Japan’s rice surplus pushes prices lower
Japan’s rice market is undergoing a major shift as cooperative sales from the 2025 harvest fell 17% to a record-low 1.32 million tonnes, while private inventories surged 51% to 2.23 million tonnes. Growing demand for cheaper government stockpiled and imported rice is driving retail prices lower and increasing pressure on wholesalers to clear stocks.
Agricultural cooperatives and other groups in Japan that collect rice from farmers sold a record-low 1.32 million tons of the grain from the 2025 harvest to wholesalers as of the end of May, down about 17 percent from a year earlier, the farm ministry said Tuesday.
The decline in rice sales through the conventional distribution channel, which accounted for just under half of the 2025 harvest collected, comes as demand has shifted to cheaper government-released stockpiled rice as well as imported rice.
Private-sector rice inventories rose about 51 percent to 2.23 million tons as of the end of May, reaching a level on par with the record high recorded in 2014, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Retail rice prices have been declining since the government began releasing stockpiled rice, including through direct contracts with retailers, last year.
Prices could fall further if wholesalers seek to reduce inventories by discounting rice.
According to the ministry, the average retail price of a 5-kilogram bag of rice at around 1,000 supermarkets nationwide fell to 3,590 yen in the week ending June 21 after peaking at 4,416 yen in the week from Dec 29, 2025, to Jan 4.
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Source : Qatar Tribune
