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Posted on 05/22/2025 7:28:20 AM PDT by delta7
Japanese Minister Taku Etō has been forced to resign amid the ongoing rice crisis. For those unaware, Japan has been facing a severe rice shortage since 2024, which makes the US egg crisis look minuscule in comparison. Etō delivered a fatal blow to his career by saying that he does not need to worry about the price of rice since he receives it freely through donations.
His comments were taken as a modern-day “Let them eat cake.” “I asked myself whether it is appropriate for me to stay at the helm [of the agriculture ministry] at a critical time for rice prices, and I concluded that it is not,” Etō added, according to the Kyodo news agency. “Once again, I apologise to people for making extremely inappropriate comments as minister when they are struggling with surging rice prices.” He later added that his wife was upset with him for his comments, as they do purchase rice once the donations run dry.
Poor weather conditions in 2023 led to a significant decline in crop yields. The Japanese government has placed high tariffs on imported rice, and Japanese consumers strongly prefer domestic varieties. The government is releasing over 300,000 metric tons of rice from its emergency reserves through July, in addition to the 310,000 tons released since March, but this is not sufficient to meet demand.
Japan reluctantly began importing rice to meet demand. In February alone, Japan imported roughly 40% of what it imported in FY2023. Last week, rice prices hit a record ¥4,268 yen ($29) for 5kg of rice, up from ¥4,214 the previous week. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications alerted the public that rice prices rose 92.1% year-on-year in March, but prices continued to rise. Last month in mid-April, a 5kg bag of rice reached ¥4,220 (about $29–$30), marking the highest price on record and over an 80% YoY increase.
Japan was previously nearly entirely self-sufficient in rice production, but recently bought rice from South Korea for the first time in 25 years, and has also turned to the United States to fill the gap. Panic buying remains prevalent despite the high cost of rice, as it is a staple in the Japanese diet.………
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“($29) for 5kg of rice”
~$2.50/pound
To cope with shortfalls this year, the government has released rice reserves
The crop insurance lobbies were better than the grain storage lobbyists. Remember, you can’t eat the paper insurance pays.
That’s Ricist
No sushi for you.
5kg or 50kg? $30 would be around $2.70 a pound. At costco rice is $16/25lb, 65 cents and that is double what it was 5 years ago.
Organic brown rice is about $4 per pound.
And for those not in the know, the local Japanese propaganda has conditioned the people to believe that locally grown rice is somehow magical. And that it’s prefect for the Japanese population, and that all imported rice is inferior.
So there’s that as well.
The numbers in the article are correct.
4200 yen per 5 kg
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/05/04/japan/rice-shortage-high-prices/
With their land to population ratio I can understand their concern to protect their rice growers.
$29 for 11 lbs of rice? They should order it from Amazon; its as low as $18 for 15lbs. :D
What does that have to do with the price of rice in China?
My family farms Rice in Hazen, Arkansas - Japan will not buy any US Rice except for a few select crops grown in California. You want to talk tariffs and exports? - start with US Rice and the restrictions we live with.
Does that include shipping from the U.S. to China??? (I was looking for a /humor tag?)
Most likely China to Japan. (:D is my humor tag)
Japan has ridiculously clung to their import restrictions when they could have been offsetting their inflation instead.
That being said, a lot of international rice doesn’t meet what the consumers are looking for in Japan. They prefer a short grained, higher starch content, that is stickier and sweeter than other varietals. They also tend to polish their grain a lot more than you see in other countries, which is why they prefer the California varietals over others.
I’ve seen basamati and jasmine rices there when I’ve visited, but it’s considered more an ethnic food for international dishes that are not standard to Japan.
I’m sure some Arkansas rice farmers would be happy to sell them some!
“…and we thought our egg prices are a big deal….”
Bitcoin sets new high, today.
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