Private firms in Japan import record amount of rice in 2025
Japan’s private companies imported a record 96,000 tonnes of rice in 2025 as domestic prices surged to historic highs. Despite heavy tariffs, imports were cheaper, led mainly by the US, with Taiwan and Vietnam also supplying. It marks Japan’s highest private rice imports since records began in 2000.
Private firms in Japan imported a record amount of rice last year. That was as prices of domestic supplies of the grain remained high.
Data from Japan’s Finance Ministry show that private firms brought in over 96,000 tons of rice in 2025. The figure is up more than ninety-fold from the previous year and the most since data became available in 2000.
There are two ways rice is imported to Japan. One is through a government framework called minimum access. The other is by private firms that pay a steep tariff of 341 yen, or about 2 dollars, per kilogram.
Most of the rice brought in by the private firms came from the United States. The figure reached more than 75,000 tons, or about 78 percent of all such imports.
Shipments from Taiwan followed at over 7,000 tons. Vietnam was next with more than 4,500 tons.
The price of domestic rice hit record levels last year. Japan’s agriculture ministry says private firms took the view that imported rice was relatively cheap despite the tariff they had to pay.
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Source : NHK World
