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Yomiuri Shimbun file photo The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry building in Tokyo
The Yomiuri Shimbun
13:58 JST, February 8, 2025
The government plans to outline the release of stockpiled rice reserved for emergency use, including quantities and prices, as soon as Friday next week.
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Taku Eto said after Friday’s Cabinet meeting that the stockpiled rice will be released as soon as possible to facilitate rice distribution. With rice prices remaining high, he also expressed concern that “extreme price increases could cause people to abandon rice.”
At the end of January, the farm ministry revised the policy for the rice stockpile system, which had previously been limited to use during emergencies such as major crop failure or natural disasters.
If there are disruptions in rice distribution and the farm minister deems it necessary, the government will now be allowed to release reserves, provided that the government purchases an equivalent amount of domestically produced rice within one year.
The government plans to target the policy at rice distributors such as the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (Zen-Noh).
Although the government had not yet decided whether or not to release the rice, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ordered Eto on Tuesday to begin using the stockpiled rice as soon as possible. “After presenting the conditions, we would like to move forward with the process as quickly as possible,” Eto said.
The amount of rice produced in 2024 was 180,000 tons more than in 2023. However, the amount collected by Zen-Noh and other entities last year as of the end of December last year was about 210,000 tons less than the previous year.
According to the January consumer price index for Tokyo’s 23 wards released by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, the price of rice rose 70.7% year on year, the largest increase since comparable data became available in 1971.
“We want to stop this trend at all costs. We want to use policy to guide the market so that the accumulated inventory gets on the market,” Eto said.
