Latest news with #ShinjiroKoizumi
11 hours ago
- Business
2,000-Yen Govt-Stockpiled Rice Reaches Consumers in Japan
Tokyo, May 31 (Jiji Press)--Japanese government-stockpiled rice released under no-bid contracts started to hit store shelves at reasonable prices in some areas in the country on Saturday, with the focus now on whether this would lead to price falls for other types of rice. Some retailers, including supermarket chain Ito-Yokado Co., began selling government-stockpiled at some of their outlets the same day and others are set to follow suit one after another from Sunday, meaning that agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi's target of realizing rice prices of 2,000 yen per 5 kilograms was achieved in just over a week since it was set out. Ito-Yokado's Omori store in Tokyo's Ota Ward prepared 500 5 kg bags of government-stockpiled rice harvested in 2022 with a price tag of 2,160 yen each, including tax. All of the numbered tickets for the bags were distributed before the store opened at 10 a.m., and the prepared bags were sold out within about 30 minutes after the opening. The situation was similar at an outlet of household goods supplier Iris Ohyama Inc.'s Daisin hardware store chain in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan. Some 250 people were lined up at the store as of 7:30 a.m. for the 95 5 kg bags of government-stockpiled rice put on sale also at 2,160 yen each. They were sold out immediately after going on sale at 9 a.m. On Sunday, major retailer Aeon Co. and discount store operator Don Quijote Co., a subsidiary of Pan Pacific International Holdings Corp., will start selling government-stockpiled rice at their stores in Tokyo. They plan to gradually expand their sales areas. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
Asahi Shimbun
15 hours ago
- Business
- Asahi Shimbun
Long lines for cheap stockpiled rice sold directly to retail firms
Stockpiled rice sold by the government directly to retail companies hit store shelves on May 31 and long lines of customers were waiting to buy the cheaper grain. Supplies quickly sold out. Ito-Yokado Co.'s supermarket in Tokyo's Omori district was one of those outlets. About 250 customers had lined up an hour or so before the supermarket opened at 10 a.m. The first person in line, a man in his 40s, said he came to the outlet at 5:30 a.m. He said he wanted to buy rice as cheaply as possible as it was an irreplaceable menu item. Two outlets operated by the Iris Ohyama Inc. group also began selling the rice bought directly from the government. Other major supermarkets were preparing to sell the rice at their outlets from June 1 and beyond. Faced with mounting criticism that the government had failed to curb a spike in rice prices, Shinjiro Koizumi, the farm minister, switched the distribution of stockpiled rice from auctions to direct sales to retail companies. He said his aim was to provide 5-kilogram bags of rice for around 2,000 yen ($14). According to the farm ministry, a total of 300,000 tons of rice harvested in the 2021-22 season will be directly sold to 61 retail companies that have signed contracts to purchase the rice and passed the evaluation screening. On May 30, the ministry released figures which showed a slight improvement in the pace of stockpiled rice distributed through auctions reaching retail outlets. It said 27,369 tons of rice distributed through auctions in March had reached retailers by May 11. The figure represents 12.9 percent of the total amount of rice released through auctions that month. The figure was an improvement over the 7.1 percent from the April 27 study by the ministry. But the release of stockpiled rice through auctions does not appear to have had the desired effect: lower rice prices. The internal affairs ministry on May 30 released its statistics for rice prices in the 23 wards of Tokyo which showed 5 kg of the Koshihikari brand selling for 4,970 yen, 200 yen more than the previous week. That marked the 13th straight week of an increase in rice prices. (This article was compiled from reports by Masashi Kisanuki, Ryo Oyama, Takumi Wakai, Hisashi Naito and Sho Ito.)
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
As Japan's rice prices soar, scammers cash in on hunger for cheap deals
Japan 's consumer affairs centre has called on people grappling with soaring rice prices to beware of websites claiming to sell the staple at heavily discounted prices. The National Consumer Affairs Centre of Japan said complaints related to such websites have spiked since March, with some claiming the rice was never delivered though payment had been made. Some cases reported last month include a man in his twenties who bought 20kg (44lbs) of rice on a website with a credit card but did not receive an email confirming completion of the order. He called a phone number on the website only to find it not in service, the centre said. Japanese Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Shinjiro Koizumi visits a warehouse stockpiling the government's reserve rice in Kanagawa prefecture on Thursday. Photo: Kyodo A woman in her fifties said she ordered 5kg (11lbs) of rice at 3,899 yen (US$27) via an advertisement on a video-sharing app but only received an email with a receipt for a pair of sunglasses priced at the same amount.
Asahi Shimbun
a day ago
- Business
- Asahi Shimbun
China set to resume imports of Japanese seafood halted over water discharge from Fukushima plant
Visitors check seafood sold at the seafood market "Lalamew" near the Onahama fish port in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, on Oct. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/ File) China will resume Japanese seafood imports it banned in 2023 over worries about Japan's discharge of treated but slightly radioactive water from the damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the sea, a Japanese minister said Friday. Fisheries minister Shinjiro Koizumi said the agreement was reached after officials met in Beijing and the imports will resume once paperwork is complete. China said talks this week made 'substantial progress,' but did not confirm an agreement with Japan on the issue that has been a significant political and diplomatic point of tension. 'Seafood is an important export item for Japan and a resumption of its export to China is a major milestone," Koizumi said. Japan's Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya also welcomed the move, saying: 'It will be a big first step that would help Japan and China to tackle a number of remaining issues between the two countries." But officials said China's ban on farm and fisheries products from 10 Japanese prefectures, including Fukushima, is still in place and that they will keep pushing toward their lifting. China's General Administration of Customs said in a statement Friday that the two sides had on Wednesday held "a new round of technical exchanges on the safety issues of Japanese aquatic products ... and achieved substantial progress,' but did not mention an agreement. Disagreement over seafood imports China blocked imports of Japanese seafood because it said the release of the treated and diluted but still slightly radioactive wastewater would endanger the fishing industry and coastal communities in eastern China. Japanese officials have said the treated water will be safer than international standards and its environmental impact will be negligible. They say the water must be released to make room for the nuclear plant's decommissioning and to prevent accidental leaks. Tokyo and Beijing have held three rounds of talks since March on the issue before reaching the agreement this week on the 'technical requirements' necessary for Japanese seafood exports to China to restart, Japan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It did not say how long it may take before the actual resumption. Mainland China used to be the biggest overseas market for Japanese seafood, accounting for more than one-fifth of its seafood exports, followed by Hong Kong. The ban became a major blow to the fisheries industry, though the impact on overall trade was limited because seafood exports are a fraction of Japan's total exports. Japan's government set up an emergency relief fund for its exporters, especially scallop growers, and has sought alternative overseas markets. Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, which operates the Fukushima No. 1 plant, has said it would compensate Japanese business owners appropriately for damages from export bans. 'Mutual understanding' The nuclear plant had meltdowns in three reactors after being heavily damaged in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan. Water used to cool the reactor cores has been accumulating ever since, and officials say the massive stockpile is hampering the cleanup of the site. The wastewater was treated and heavily diluted with seawater to reduce the radioactivity as much as possible before Japan began releasing it into the sea in August 2023. Last September, then-Prime Minster Fumio Kishida said the two sides reached 'a certain level of mutual understanding' that China would start working toward easing the import ban and join the International Atomic Energy Agency's expanded monitoring of water discharges. People inside and outside Japan protested the initial release of treated water. Japanese fishing groups said they feared it would further damage the reputation of their seafood. Groups in China and South Korea also raised concerns.
Euronews
a day ago
- Business
- Euronews
China to resume seafood imports from Japan after Fukushima disaster
China will resume seafood imports from Japan that it banned in 2023 over worries about the discharge of treated radioactive wastewater from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea, a Japanese minister has said. Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said the agreement was reached after officials met in Beijing and the imports will resume once paperwork is complete. China said talks this week made "substantial progress," but did not confirm an agreement with Japan on the issue that has been a significant political and diplomatic point of tension. "Seafood is an important export item for Japan and a resumption of its export to China is a major milestone," Koizumi said. Japan's Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya also welcomed the move, saying: "It will be a big first step that would help Japan and China to tackle a number of remaining issues between the two countries." But officials said China's ban on farm and fisheries products from 10 Japanese prefectures, including Fukushima, is still in place and that they will keep pushing toward their lifting. China's General Administration of Customs said in a statement that the two sides had held "a new round of technical exchanges on the safety issues of Japanese aquatic achieved substantial progress," but did not mention any agreement. China blocked imports of Japanese seafood because it said the release of the treated and diluted but still slightly radioactive wastewater would endanger the fishing industry and coastal communities in eastern China. Japanese officials said the wastewater will be safer than international standards and its environmental impact will be negligible. They said the wastewater must be released to make room for the nuclear plant's decommissioning and to prevent accidental leaks. Tokyo and Beijing have held three rounds of talks since March on the issue before reaching the agreement this week on the "technical requirements" necessary for Japanese seafood exports to China to restart, Japan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It did not say how long it may take before the actual resumption. Mainland China used to be the biggest overseas market for Japanese seafood, accounting for more than one-fifth of its seafood exports, followed by Hong Kong. The ban became a major blow to the fisheries industry, though the impact on overall trade was limited because seafood exports are a fraction of Japan's total exports. Japan's government set up an emergency relief fund for its exporters, especially scallop growers, and sought alternative overseas markets. Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, which operates the Fukushima Daiichi plant, has said it would compensate Japanese business owners appropriately for damages from export bans. The nuclear power plant suffered meltdowns in three reactors after being heavily damaged in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan. Water used to cool the reactor cores has been accumulating ever since and officials say the massive stockpile is hampering the cleanup of the site. The wastewater was treated and heavily diluted with seawater to reduce the radioactivity as much as possible before Japan began releasing it into the sea in August 2023. People inside and outside Japan protested the initial wastewater release and Japanese fishing groups said they feared it would further damage the reputation of their seafood. Groups in China and South Korea also raised concerns.
