Latest news with #ricecrisis
Japan Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Japan Times
Can the 'rice man,' Koizumi, save the day?
Could rice prices in Japan drop to less than half their current level? Many foreign observers of Japan's foreign and security policies, both within and outside the country, may overlook the significance of what seems like a purely domestic issue. But the ongoing rice crisis — and how the government handles it — could spell serious trouble for political forces that have long relied on and benefited from policies keeping rice prices artificially high without triggering sharp declines. For them, this is not only a price revolution but rather a political revolution in the making.
Independent Singapore
23-05-2025
- Business
- Independent Singapore
Japanese minister quits in disgrace after boasting he gets free rice while prices soar for public
Screengrab from JAPAN: Taku Etō, Japan's agriculture minister, bowed out following a contentious declaration that triggered rage in a nation wrestling with spiralling food prices. According to the latest The Guardian report, Etō's disclosure that he doesn't buy rice because he obtains it as favours from followers and cliques has drawn exacting condemnation, stressing the delicate character of Japan's current rice predicament and bigger economic challenges. Controversial comment sparks backlash Taku Etō spurred public rage after divulging at a recent fundraiser that he 'never bought rice himself' because of the substantial gifts he gets, making him oblivious to everyday consumers, who are fraught amidst mounting costs. This comment came notwithstanding his previous spoken compassion for those hampered by swelling prices, even after the government released 300,000 tons of rice from backup hoards previously this year to control the surging crisis. Consumers confronted with rice prices that have doubled what they paid a year ago saw Etō's statement as insensitive. The reaction ended in demands for his resignation, which he offered at the prime minister's office, admitting the impropriety of his comments during a grave period for Japan's primary food. Political pressure mounts on Prime Minister Ishiba Etō's resignation complicates the political strain on Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who has struggled to regulate the escalating cost of living. The rice dilemma denotes the government's wide-ranging fiasco. Constituencies are increasingly upset, and with the upcoming July upper house elections, the latest poll showed that 87% are dissatisfied with the government's management of increasing rice prices and low cabinet approval rankings. Japan's circumstances have forced the government to be creative in its approach, including importing rice from South Korea for the first time in 25 years to calm people's discontent. Leaders from the opposition have condemned Etō's comments as 'out of touch and intolerable,' leading to a growing examination of Ishiba's government. The root of the rice shortage and its economic impact Japan's rice deficiency comes from manifold reasons, including meagre yields owing to the menacingly high temperature in 2023, panic buying triggered by a 2024 earthquake notice, and traders' alleged hoarding. These problems drove the regular retail price of rice to record highs, with a 5kg bag reaching ¥4,268 (S$29). Shinjirō Koizumi, a former environment minister, Ishiba's rival, and Etō's successor, has the frightening job of evening out rice provisions and renewing the public's confidence. As Japan confronts this food security issue, the government's capacity to tackle it successfully is vital to its political future and to alleviating the daily problems of consumers all over the country.
Al Jazeera
23-05-2025
- Business
- Al Jazeera
Japan faces a ‘rice crisis' as price nearly doubles for food staple
Japan is facing a 'rice crisis' as the price of its favourite staple food has nearly doubled over the past year amid rising inflation and supply shortages. Government data released on Friday shows the price of rice rose 98.4 percent year-on-year in April, following a rise of 92.5 percent year-on-year in March. The surge is straining the wallets of Japanese consumers and further dampening the popularity of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Emergency measures such as tapping into government rice reserves have failed to make a dent in prices, which climbed to 5,000 yen (about $35) this month for 5kg (11 pounds) of the popular Koshihikari brand of rice. Other varieties hit 4,200 yen (about $29) earlier this month, according to Japanese media. 'We don't know why we haven't been able to push prices lower,' Ishiba told Japan's parliament this week during a question session. 'We first will figure out exactly how much rice there is and where it is,' he said. Tim Harcourt, chief economist at the Institute for Public Policy and Governance at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), told Al Jazeera several factors continue to put an upwards pressure on rice prices. 'One is panic buying due to rumours of a mega-earthquake,' he said, referring to an online rumour about Japan. 'Two is the shortage of wheat due to the Russia-Ukraine war causing a substitute of wheat for rice. And three, is the revival in tourism to Japan and a booming hospitality sector increasing demand for rice.' Shortages have also been linked to an unusually hot summer in 2023, which led to a poor harvest for Japanese farmers. Faced with soaring prices, restaurants across Japan and some consumers have bucked the traditional Japanese preference for locally grown rice and started buying cheaper imported varieties. Left unchecked, Japan's 'rice crisis' could dim the future prospects of Ishiba's minority government as voters return to the polls later this year for parliamentary elections. 'Rice is the cherished staple in Japan, so an economic crisis automatically becomes a political one,' Harcourt of UTS, told Al Jazeera. A recent poll by Japanese media showed that the approval rating for Ishiba's cabinet slid to 27.4 percent this month, down 5 percent from April. Agricultural Minister Taku Eto was also forced to resign this week after he created an uproar for stating that he 'never had to buy rice' due to the many gifts of rice he received from supporters. The remark was seen as out of touch with voters, who are facing high levels of inflation and a cost-of-living crisis. His replacement, Shinjiro Koizumi, said on Friday that he aims to get rice prices back to about 3,000 yen (around $20) for a 5kg bag of rice. Japan's core inflation rate accelerated to 3.5 percent in April, according to new data from the Bank of Japan, its fastest annual pace in more than two years. The consumer price index, which includes the price of oil but excludes fresh food, rose 3.5 percent in April year-on-year, the BOJ said. Food prices rose 7.0 percent in April as Japanese companies started their new fiscal year, according to government data. The rise follows a 6.2 percent price rise in March. Japan was once known for its low levels of inflation, but the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war helped reverse the decades-long trend in 2022. Labour shortages have further compounded the problem.
BBC News
21-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
How a joke about rice cost a Japan cabinet minister his job
When Japan's farm minister declared that he never had to buy rice because his supporters give him "plenty" of it as gifts, he hoped to draw laughs. Instead Taku Eto drew outrage - and enough of it to force him to resign. Japan is facing its first cost-of-living crisis in decades, which is hitting a beloved staple: rice. The price has more than doubled in the last year, and imported varieties are few and far between. Eto apologised, saying he had gone "too far" with his comments on Sunday at a local fundraiser. He resigned after opposition parties threatened a no-confidence motion against him. His ousting deals a fresh blow to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's minority government, which was already struggling with falling public can be a powerful trigger in Japan, where shortages have caused political upsets before. Riots over the soaring cost of rice even toppled a government in it's not that surprising that rice prices have a role in Ishiba's plummeting approval ratings."Politicians don't go to supermarkets to do their grocery shopping so they don't understand," 31-year-old Memori Higuchi tells the BBC from her home in Higuchi is a first-time mother of a seven-month-old. Good food for her postnatal recovery has been crucial, and her daughter will soon start eating solid food."I want her to eat well so if prices keep going up, we may have to reduce the amount of rice my husband and I eat." A costly error? It's a simple issue of supply and demand, agricultural economist Kunio Nishikawa of Ibaraki University he believes it was caused by a government 1995, the government controlled the amount of rice farmers produced by working closely with agricultural cooperatives. The law was abolished that year but the agriculture ministry continues to publish demand estimates so farmers can avoid producing a glut of Prof Nishikawa says, they got it wrong in 2023 and 2024. They estimated the demand to be 6.8m tonnes, while the actual demand, he adds, was 7.05m tonnes. Demand for rice went up because of more tourists visiting Japan and a rise in people eating out after the pandemic. But actual production was even lower than the estimate: 6.61m tonnes, Prof Nishikawa says."It is true that the demand for rice jumped, due to several factors - including the fact that rice was relatively affordable compared to other food items and a rise in the number of overseas visitors," a spokesperson for the agriculture ministry told the BBC."The quality of rice wasn't great due to unusually high temperatures which also resulted in lower rice production." Growing rice is no longer profitable Rice farmers have been unable to make enough money for many years, says 59-year-old Kosuke Kasahara, whose family have been in farming for explains that it costs approximately 18,500 yen ($125.70; £94.60) to produce 60kg of rice but the cooperative in his area of Niigata on the west coast of Japan offered to buy it last year at 19,000 yen."Until three or four years ago, the government would even offer financial incentives to municipalities that agreed to reduce rice production," he ministry spokesperson confirms that the government has offered subsidies to those choosing to produce wheat or soybeans instead of younger farmers have been choosing to produce different types of rice that are used for sake, rice crackers or fed to livestock because demand for rice in Japan had been falling until last year."I got tired of fighting retailers or restaurants that wanted me to sell rice cheaply for many years," says Shinya that's been flipped on its head, with the going rate for 60kg of rice today at 40,000 to 50,000 higher prices are bad news for shoppers, it means many struggling farmers will finally be able to make as the public grew angry with the surge, the government auctioned some of its emergency reserves of rice in March to try to bring prices down. Many countries have strategic reserves - stockpiles of vital goods - of crude oil or natural gas to prepare for exceptional circumstances. In Asia, many governments also have stockpiles of recent years, Japan's rice stockpile had only been tapped in the wake of natural disasters."The government has always told us that they would not release its emergency rice stocks to control the price so we felt betrayed," Mr Tabuchi the government's rare decision to release rice, prices have continued to rise. Tackling soaring prices The cost of rice is also soaring in South East Asia, which accounts for almost 30% of global rice production - economic, political and climate pressures have resulted in shortages in recent Japan though the issue has become so serious that the country has begun importing rice from South Korea for the first time in a quarter of a century, even though consumers prefer homegrown Ishiba has also hinted at expanding imports of US rice as his government continues to negotiate a trade deal with Washington. But shoppers like Ms Higuchi say they are unlikely to buy non-Japanese rice."We've been saying local production for local consumption for a long time," she says. "There has to be a way for Japanese farmers to be profitable and consumers to feel safe by being able to afford home-grown produce." This divides opinion among farmers."You may hear that the industry is ageing and shrinking but that is not necessarily true," says Mr Tabuchi, who believes the sector has been too protected by the government."Many elderly farmers can afford to sell rice cheaply because they have pensions and assets but the younger generation has to be able to make money. Instead of guaranteeing the income of all the farmers and distorting the market, the government should let unprofitable farmers fail."Mr Kasahara disagrees: "Farming in rural areas like ours is about being part of a community. If we let those farmers fail, our areas will be in ruins."He argues the government should set a guaranteed buying price of 32,000 to 36,000 yen per 60kg of rice which is lower than today's price but still allows farmers to be given what happened to Eto, it is also a sensitive topic for country is due to hold a key national election this summer so pleasing both consumers and farmers - especially the elderly in both camps who tend to vote more - is crucial.
CNN
21-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
Japan's farm minister resigns over rice gaffe, as stubbornly high prices threaten government's grip on power
An off-the-cuff remark about never paying for rice has cost Japan's agriculture minister his job, as pressure mounts on the government to solve the nation's rice crisis. Taku Eto resigned on Wednesday, telling reporters that he had concluded he was 'not the right person for this role' after sparking a public backlash by saying that he had 'so much rice at home that (he) could sell it.' The cost of rice – Japan's prime staple food - has become a major political issue, with prices surging to record highs this year and the government taking the rare steps of releasing emergency reserves and importing foreign rice. Eto's gaffe could not have come at a worse time for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's government, which was already suffering from low approval ratings due to spiraling cost of living, weeks ahead of an election. 'I have never bought rice myself. Frankly, my supporters give me quite a lot of rice. I have so much rice at home that I could sell it,' Eto said in a speech over the weekend, drawing the ire of the public. He later clarified he did buy his own rice and said he 'deeply regretted' his comments. 'I made an extremely inappropriate remark as the minister responsible. For that, I apologize once again to the people of Japan,' Eto said Wednesday after tendering his resignation. He added that he 'fully recognized' the hardship people are facing due to soaring rice prices. Frustrations over the rising cost of living in Japan is shaping up to be a major threat for Prime Minister Ishiba and his Liberal Democratic Party as the country heads to the polls for upper house elections in July. The latest approval ratings for Ishiba's cabinet slipped to 27.4%, a record low, according to a poll by Japanese news agency Kyodo released on Sunday. Almost one in nine of the households surveyed said the government's efforts to rein in rice prices had been insufficient. Ishiba's party, which has ruled Japan for almost all of its post-war history, suffered a crushing defeat in last year's lower house election, but he held on to power by seeking support from minor parties. Further defeat in the coming elections could threaten his coalition's rule and spark calls for a new leader. Despite the government's attempts to bring them down, rice prices in Japan have remained stubbornly high – almost twice what they were a year ago. The average retail price of rice rose to 4,268 yen ($29.4 US) per five kilograms in the second week of May, reversing a brief decline in 18 weeks recorded in the previous month, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Earlier this year, it took the rare step of putting hundreds of thousands of tons of rice from its emergency reserves up for auction, in a bid to drive down prices. Multiple auctions have since been scheduled until July, with hundreds of thousands of tons of rice being released. Japan, which takes deep pride in its homegrown rice, has also scaled up imports of rice from overseas, mainly from the US. In April, it also imported South Korean rice for the first time since 1999. Dealing with the rice crisis is now the job of Shinjiro Koizumi, a former environment minister and son of a former Japanese Prime Minister, who Ishiba has appointed to head the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. 'I have instructed Mr. Koizumi to make strong efforts to supply rice to consumers at a stable price, especially in light of the current high rice prices,' Ishiba said.
