Stockpiled rice shipped within three days, set to hit shelves next week
The rapid shipment is in sharp contrast with previous arrangements using auctions, under which it took months to sell and ship 310,000 metric tons of rice in phases. It is not yet clear whether the latest move will help lower the overall price of rice or will be limited to a one-off windfall for shoppers until the stockpiled rice sells out.
Twelve metric tons of rice arrived Thursday morning at a rice-polishing factory in Miyagi Prefecture operated by a subsidiary of Iris Ohyama, which purchased 10,000 tons in total.
The company will polish the rice, repackage it and start selling it at some of its stores in Miyagi, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures from Monday at ¥2,160 for a 5-kilogram bag of rice.
Iris Ohyama also started selling the rice on its website later Thursday, but shoppers had a hard time accessing the website due to a large volume of traffic.
Online retailer Rakuten also started selling rice on its website Thursday at ¥2,138 per 5-kg bag, with stock selling out in a few hours. Delivery of that rice would be about two weeks from now, the company said.
Rakuten had prepared a special website for the sale, limiting purchases to one bag per day and up to two bags in total per purchaser. To prevent resale of the rice, the company said it may cancel orders from customers who place more orders than are permitted.
On Wednesday, farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi met with transport minister Hiromasa Nakano to ask for the ministry's cooperation in getting help from the truck industry to ensure there are enough trucks and drivers to ship the stockpiled rice to retailers.
Under the no-bid method, the government will release 200,000 tons of rice produced in 2022 and another 100,000 tons from the 2021 harvest. Tokyo has also released 310,000 tons of stockpile rice to distributors through auctions since March. The National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (Zen-Noh), which bought 296,000 tons in the government auction, had shipped about a third of that volume as of May 22.
The ministry aims to sell smaller retailers the remaining 100,000 tons of rice harvested in 2021, which is expected to be sold on at a retail price of about ¥1,800 per 5-kg bag of rice. The initial 200,000 tons sold out with 61 major retailers placing purchasing orders.
Information from Jiji added
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Times
a day ago
- Japan Times
Japan's first rice crop of 2025 goes on sale at high prices
The first rice harvest of 2025 has hit shelves in Japan, with prices significantly higher than last year against the backdrop of strong demand for domestic rice brands. Rice prices may remain high even after autumn, leading consumers to struggle with their food spending. On Thursday, the early Koshihikari-brand rice crop from Miyazaki Prefecture was put on sale for ¥4,190 ($27.8) per 5 kilograms, excluding tax, up ¥1,400 from a year earlier, at a store of Inageya's grocery supermarket chain in front of Hanakoganei Station in the city of Kodaira, western Tokyo. The dramatic increase followed a 1,100-yen price surge last year for the then-newly harvested rice. "While the distribution volume of rice has increased due to more imported rice going on sale, there is strong demand for domestic brands," according to an Inageya public relations official. Newly harvested rice usually becomes widely available from September. Although retail rice prices have recently fallen due to the government releasing its stockpiled rice, concerns remain about the impact on the 2025 crop of heat waves, water shortages and pests. Rice distributors rushing to secure stocks may also put upward pressure on intervendor market prices, leading retail prices to remain high.
NHK
a day ago
- NHK
Oyster farmers in northeastern Japan recover rafts after quake-caused tsunami
Oyster farmers in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, have begun retrieving aquaculture rafts damaged or carried away by a tsunami triggered by a powerful quake in Russia on Wednesday. Three oyster farming businesses were deploying a total of about 130 rafts to raise oysters in waters between the mainland coast and Kesennuma Oshima Island in Kesennuma City. But the tsunami caused by the quake that hit Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula damaged or swept away many of the rafts. Ropes anchoring the rafts were loosened by the waves. The farmers set off on board fishing boats early on Friday to recover the rafts that had drifted offshore. Some of the rafts had piled up on top of each other. They had to cut off some tangled ropes holding oysters. They also brought the rafts closer to the coast so that they will not obstruct other vessels traveling in the area. They plan to continue collecting and repairing damaged rafts and take them back to the farming site. They said it may take a few years before the recovery efforts are completed. One of the farmers said they had to cut some ropes laden with oysters which means that the harvest is certain to be smaller this year. He said he feels depressed, but will work hard to bring the farm back to its original state.
Japan Times
3 days ago
- Japan Times
Varied sales channels may have triggered rice price surge
The diversification of rice sales channels may have contributed to the surge in prices of the staple since last summer, according to a survey released by the agriculture ministry Wednesday. The amount of 2024 rice shipped from producers to major buyers dealing with farmers fell by 340,000 metric tons from the previous year, while shipments through other channels, such as direct sales, increased by 490,000 tons, according to estimates as of the end of June. The ministry believes that the increase in rice distributed through new channels with higher transaction prices is one of the factors behind the rice price surge. Demand for 2024 rice intended primarily for direct human consumption is estimated to reach 7.11 million tons, up by 370,000 tons from an estimate as of May, the ministry also said. The results of the survey were presented at a meeting to discuss agricultural policies. "We will reflect what was discussed in the results of the assessment" of soaring rice prices and other issues, agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi said. The main distribution channels for rice have traditionally been through major buyers, such as the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations, or Zen-Noh. According to the survey, producers' direct rice sales and transactions with other traders totaled 2.95 million tons, compared with 2.91 million tons through traditional channels. Milling yields of brown rice harvested in 2024 fell by 0.8% from the average for rice harvested between 2020 and 2022, according to the survey. The decrease may be attributed to factors such as high temperatures, resulting in an additional 60,000 tons of brown rice being required to maintain the same amount of polished rice.
