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Cailianshe News, August 1 (Editor: Ma Lan)As a country where rice is the staple food, Japan has recently issued a warning signal.

According to Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan's private sector rice stocks fell to 1.56 million tons in June, down 20% from the same period last year and the lowest level since 1999. The ministry believes this is related to the hot weather in 2023 and the surge in inbound tourists.

Last year, Japan experienced the hottest September in 125 years, which led to unsatisfactory rice production. Hiroshi Itakura, an official from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said that the main reason for the record low rice stocks was that last year's high temperature and water shortage led to a decline in rice production. Its price is also relatively cheap compared to crops such as wheat, which has led to a low desire to plant.

In addition, he added that increased demand from foreign tourists was also one of the reasons for the decline in inventories, but Japan was not currently experiencing a rice shortage.

According to Japanese media, rice trading prices have hit a 30-year high, wholesalers are running out of inventory, and some supermarkets have decided to further increase prices and limit purchases. This situation is expected to continue until September, when this year's harvested rice will be replenished on the market.

In June, the average price of rice sold by Japanese production cooperatives to wholesalers climbed to 15,865 yen per 60 kilograms, or about 770 yuan, the highest level in about eleven years.

Tourists eating too much?

Although Japan has a long history of rice culture, with the invasion of Western food trends and the low price of rice, many young Japanese farmers are unwilling to grow rice. As a result, a large number of rice fields have been abandoned, and only older farmers are still persisting.

On the other hand, the rebound in tourism in recent years has boosted foreign tourists' rice consumption in Japan. Data shows that from June 2023 to June this year, Japan's rice demand rose to 7 million tons, an increase of 100,000 tons year-on-year, and the first increase in 10 years.

During the same period, the number of overseas tourists received by Japan more than doubled year-on-year. In the first half of this year alone, Japan received 17.78 million tourists, 1 million more than before the epidemic.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries also estimated that if tourists eat two meals of rice a day, their rice consumption will reach 51,000 tons, 3.7 times that of the same period last year. The increase in demand from foreign tourists has obviously impacted the rice supply.

However, the Japanese government still does not plan to use rice reserves. It predicts that by June next year, Japan's rice stocks will further drop to 1.52 million tons, but domestic demand in Japan will also fall to 6.73 million tons in the same month.

Hiroshi Itakura, owner of a Japanese supermarket, pointed out that this is the first shortage of this magnitude since the 1993 rice riots in Japan.