By HISASHI NAITO/ Staff Writer
April 30, 2025 at 18:48 JST
Agriculture minister Taku Eto samples rice from the government stockpile at an April 24 tasting event in Tokyo. He said that harvests from 2022 to 2024 were all delicious. (Hisashi Naito)
The agriculture ministry announced that 99.97 percent of the 2023 rice harvest allocated to its larger reserves has been awarded in this month's bidding session in an attempt to rein in soaring prices.
Six distributors participated in this third session held from April 23 to 25 where 100,164 of the 100,191 tons stockpiled were auctioned off.
The average contract price per 60 kilograms was 20,302 yen ($140), excluding tax.
This was slightly lower than the previous two auctions and the first time rice from the most recent harvest in 2024 was not included—a factor that is said to have impacted prices.
The first auction offered 100,000 tons of 2024's crop and 50,000 tons harvested in 2023. Approximately 142,000 tons were sold at an average price of 21,217 yen per 60 kg.
In the second auction, bidders took home all 40,000 tons offered from last year's crop as well as all 30,000 tons from 2023 that were listed. The average price was 20,722 yen.
The ministry plans to announce the names of successful bidders and quantities acquired after the sales contracts are signed.
Auctions are scheduled to be conducted every month until July, and reserves from 2022's crop are expected to be added to the list in the future.
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