Photo/Illutration A brand of rice from the 2024 harvest is selling for nearly twice the price of the previous year’s crop at Akidai supermarket in Tokyo’s Nerima Ward on Jan. 29. (Yosuke Watanabe)

The farm minister said on Feb. 7 that rice stockpiles reserved for emergency use will be released, citing disruptions in the smooth distribution of rice amid surging prices.

The quantity and conditions of the distribution will be announced next week. 

Although farm minister Taku Eto said that the ministry will release the reserves “as quickly as possible,” the exact date remains undecided.

Rice prices surged last summer after an advisory warning of a potential Nankai Trough megaquake triggered panic buying.

Even after newly harvested rice appeared on store shelves in September, prices have continued to climb.

In January, the ministry revised its policy, which had previously limited the dispensing of stockpiled rice to years of poor harvest.

It announced that it will create a new system allowing reserves to be released when distribution is disrupted.

Even after announcing the new system, rice prices have remained high, leading the government to determine that an early release is necessary.

On Feb. 4, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ordered a review of rising prices and urged the ministry to expedite the release of rice reserves.

Rice production in 2024 was expected to increase by 180,000 tons compared to the previous year. However, agricultural cooperatives and other major suppliers that buy from producers and sell to the market had secured 210,000 tons less by the end of last year.

The ministry’s decision came after it found that small rice traders are buying at high prices in anticipation of further increases, while some farmers are delaying sales. 

The ministry aims to resolve this hesitance to sell by distributing stockpiled rice.

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