Ishiba Vows to Set Up Council on Rice Prices; Koizumi Wants to Avoid Consumers’ Turning Away from Rice

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:31 JST, June 2, 2025

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba unveiled his intention to set up a council of relevant Cabinet ministers tasked with discussing how to deal with rising rice prices as early as this week, during a deliberative session of the House of Councillors’ Budget Committee on Monday.

The aim of Ishiba’s envisaged council appears to being one of changing the government’s rice farming policy by, for example, reexamining the policy of rice production control that is still in effect today.

The prime minister will chair the new council and ministers related to the rice policy will attend, such as Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Shinjiro Koizumi.

“To stabilize the management farms, how should we compensate them and how should we handle the pricing of farmland? We want to thoroughly discuss food security,” Ishiba said.

Koizumi expressed his enthusiasm toward increasing the nation’s rice production. “I will drastically change the policy on rice paddies starting in fiscal 2027,” he said.

Koizumi shared his view that the government should build a framework of measures to enable rice farmers to run their rice production business in a stable manner even if rice prices fluctuate and unveiled a plan to compile a basic policy guideline by the end of this fiscal year.

Currently, a 5-kilogram bag of rice costs an average of ¥4,200.

“I cannot think [the current average price] is appropriate,” Koizumi said. “Now is the time when we should take action.” He underlined the need for releasing government-stockpiled rice onto the market.

“I’m working with the belief that we cannot allow consumers’ reluctance to buy rice to become more serious than it now is,” Koizumi added.

On the topic of lowering consumption tax rates, Ishiba reiterated his stance against it, saying, “Households of high-income earners would receive much bigger benefits [than low-income earners].”

“I want to carefully consider what kind of aid is necessary for people who are really struggling,” he added.

As a measure to deal with rising prices in general, Ishiba once again emphasized that the government will consider providing financial aid to low-income earners.