Rice from Japan government stockpiles hits shelves
Rice from Japanese government stockpiles sold through special no-bid contracts has hit store shelves at some retailers, amid high prices.
Major supermarket operator Ito-Yokado began selling the grain on Saturday at an outlet in Tokyo's Ota Ward.
Employees stacked up 500 bags of rice in a dedicated section after a truck arrived on Saturday morning.
A five-kilogram bag was priced at 2,160 yen including tax, or about 15 dollars. Purchases were limited to one per family.
All the bags sold out about 30 minutes after the store opened at 10 a.m.
A woman in her 30s who bought the rice said she had stood in line because she heard that rice was at half the current price. She hoped that prices of other types of rice will go down.
Ito Yokado signed a contract to buy 5,000 kilograms harvested in 2022 through the no-bid program.
President Yamamoto Tetsuya said the company applied for the purchase because it wanted to offer rice at a reasonable price.
He said he had little idea about price trends for other types of rice, but wants to offer customers stockpiled rice as one of the options.
Household goods maker Iris Ohyama also started selling government-stockpiled rice on Saturday at two outlets in Miyagi and Chiba prefectures. It signed a contract to purchase 10,000 tons.
Major retailer Aeon is expected to sell the rice from Sunday.
The government offered the sale of a total of 300,000 tons of rice -- 200,000 tons from the 2022 harvest and 100,000 tons from the 2021 harvest -- directly to retailers.
Attention is focused on whether the widespread sale of the stockpiles will help bring down rice prices.
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