Japan’s agriculture ministry halts applications to buy stockpiled rice
Japan’s agriculture ministry has halted new applications from major retailers seeking to buy government-stockpiled rice after high demand. About 70 retailers applied to purchase 300,000 tons from the 2021–2022 harvests, priced at roughly half the recent auction rates. With 200,000 tons from 2022 already requested, remaining 2021 stock will go to small retailers. Sales may start next week.
Japan’s agriculture ministry has stopped accepting applications from retailers wanting to buy government-stockpiled rice. Dozens of requests had poured in.
The ministry says it will sell a total of 300,000 tons of rice directly to retailers from the 2021 and 2022 harvest stockpiles. Prices will be set at roughly half the level of the average winning bids from recent auctions.
The move follows a series of competitive auctions that failed to bring down the soaring prices of the staple crop.
Agriculture Minister Koizumi Shinjiro told reporters on Tuesday that demand for the no-bid contracts is quite strong with about 70 retailers applying so far.
He said the ministry is putting a temporary pause on new requests from major retailers as the applications made so far are expected to cover some 200,000 tons of rice from the 2022 harvest.
Koizumi went on to say that the remaining rice from the 2021 harvest will be made available to smaller retailers, such as local supermarkets and rice shops, which were previously not eligible.
He expressed hope to resume the application process as early as Friday. He said he estimates that a 5-kilogram bag of rice from the 2021 harvest will likely be priced at around 1,800 yen, or about 12.5 dollars.
Major retailers that have already signed contracts are stepping up preparations to start selling rice from the government’s stockpiles early next week.
Household goods maker Iris Ohyama has announced that it applied to buy 10,000 tons of rice through one of its group companies and signed a contract on Tuesday.
Other companies that say they have submitted applications include major retailers Aeon and Ito-Yokado, and the convenience store chain FamilyMart, as well as LY Corporation, which runs an online shopping platform.
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Source : NHK World
