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"i've never encountered a situation where rice is sold out before." a male customer in fukuoka prefecture, japan was surprised to find that the supermarket shelves, which were supposed to be filled with brown rice, were empty.

"i didn't expect to encounter a rice shortage in japan!" a chinese in tokyo had the same feeling. she said that supermarkets in tokyo and osaka seemed to have been out of rice since before august 20, and it only started recently in hokkaido, where there was not a single bag of rice in the big supermarkets. another chinese in osaka said that it was not completely impossible to buy rice. for example, some small supermarkets still provide some stocks for nearby residents to buy every day, but the price is not cheap. the price of a 5-kilogram bag of rice has risen to 3,200 yen, "at least a 20% increase, it feels like the price has skyrocketed."

recently, in a supermarket in shizuoka city, japan, nearly half of the shelves dedicated to rice were empty.

japan is experiencing its first rice shortage since 1999——recently, topics such as rice purchase restrictions, price increases, and insufficient supply have frequently appeared on the hot searches on japanese social media. the latest data released by japan shows thatin july this year, the country's rice prices rose 17.2% from the same period last year, the biggest increase in 20 years.

in response to the recent "rice shortage" in many places, local governments, retailers and consumers in japan have called on the central government to release reserve rice as soon as possible to ease the tight supply. however, officials from the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries of japan made it clear on august 30 that the new rice will soon be on the market and the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries will not release reserve rice to avoid affecting the circulation of rice.

there is a "rice shortage" in japan, and some supermarkets sold out the rice within 30 minutes of putting it on the shelves!

according to xinhua news agency, severe rice shortages began to occur in some parts of japan in july and have now spread to more areas.

according to cctv news on august 16, in a supermarket in shizuoka city, japan, nearly half of the shelves dedicated to rice were empty. a notice was posted on the shelf, reminding customers that due to the recent shortage of rice supply, the long-standing special promotions will be cancelled from june 1. the store manager katsumi masuda told reporters that the price of rice in the store has increased, and now they have to control sales as much as possible. "in the past, we would have a 10% discount promotion every sunday, or special sales for different products, but now we can't do that at all.we have increased the price of rice by about 20%.”

a supermarket in tokyo, japan, told customers that they could only buy one bag of rice at a time (source: cctv news)

in the capital tokyo, many supermarkets are also experiencing rice shortages. a clerk at the famous fresco chain said, "this summer we can only purchase half the amount of rice as in previous years, and the daily rice stock is usually used up by noon." a japanese housewife in her 50s said in front of the empty rice shelves in a tokyo supermarket, "rice is the staple food, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to buy, which is very disturbing."

at the same time, according toan emergency survey conducted by osaka prefecture last week showed that about 80% of local retail stores were out of stock of rice.similar situations have also occurred in saitama prefecture, fukuoka prefecture, oita prefecture and hiroshima prefecture. in some supermarkets,the rice was sold out in just 30 minutes after it was put on the shelves, and purchase restrictions had to be implemented.

data from the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries showed that as of the end of june, the country's private rice stocks were 1.56 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 410,000 tons, the lowest since 1999.

currently, the severe rice shortage has been called the "reiwa rice riots" by japanese media ("reiwa" is the current era name in japan). some believe that japan's high rice prices may continue until the end of the year.

why is there a "rice shortage"? is it really because overseas tourists eat too much sushi?

it is reported that the last time japan experienced a "rice shortage" was in 1993. at that time, japan's rice production dropped sharply due to weather reasons, and the government urgently imported about 2.59 million tons of rice from abroad.

regarding the rice shortage in japanese society after more than 30 years, wang yan, president of the japan enterprise research institute, believes that it has not yet reached the point of causing riots. after all, the japanese government has no plans to release its rice reserves.at press conferences on august 27 and 30, japan's minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries tetsuo sakamoto rejected local governments' requests to release reserve rice, saying that releasing the reserve rice might affect the circulation of rice.

what caused the sharp rise in rice prices in japan? according to the japanese government, media reports and industry insiders, the editor of poster news mainly concluded thatfour reasons:

1. the japanese government's production adjustment policy controls rice production.due to the long-term aging population and low birth rate, japan's rice demand has decreased by about 100,000 tons each year in recent years. considering the country's declining rice consumption, the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries controls rice production by subsidizing farmers who switch to other crops. in 2023, japan's rice production was 6.61 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 1.4%, a record low.

2. the extremely hot weather last summer resulted in a decrease in rice production.most of the rice sold on the japanese market is harvested in the previous year. some analysts believe that the hot summer of 2023 caused the rice to be affected by the high temperature, resulting in a decrease in the amount of rice on the market and a decline in quality. the tight supply and demand caused the price to rise.

3. the increase in the number of foreign tourists has driven the demand for rice.the asahi shimbun, afp and other media attributed japan's "rice shortage" to the influx of foreign tourists, claiming that the record number of foreign tourists has increased rice consumption - from july 2023 to june 2024, japan's rice demand will be 7.02 million tons, an increase of 110,000 tons from the previous year, the first increase since 2014. during this period, the number of tourists visiting japan was 2.3 times that of the previous year. according to the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, assuming that each tourist eats two meals of rice a day, then tourists visiting japan consume a total of 51,000 tons of rice. the owner of a sushi restaurant in tokyo said, "the rice shop said they can't hold on any longer and asked us to raise prices. the price of rice has not risen in the past 10 years. if the purchase price does not fall, we may have to raise prices."

the fourth reason is thatearlier in august, the japan meteorological agency issued a warning that the possibility of a major earthquake in the nankai trough in the pacific east of japan had increased, prompting some people to buy and hoard rice in large quantities.

beware that next year's "rice shortage" may come earlier than expected

regarding the rice shortage and price increase, japan's minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries tetsuo sakamoto called on consumers to respond rationally: "the new rice is growing well this year. the harvest time in some production areas is about a week earlier than in previous years, and the shipping period is also expected to be advanced. the rice shortage is expected to gradually improve. i hope everyone will not panic and only buy the rice they need." some chinese also showed the media reporters a message released by the kyoto city government on social media, titled“regarding the rice shortage, please stay calm!”the content reads: "due to the increase in rice consumption and families preparing for the earthquake, there is a shortage of rice supply in supermarkets and other places. we have also heard everyone's concerns, but the current domestic rice inventory level is guaranteed and new rice has begun to be listed. please remain calm and consume rationally."

however, given thatthe weather in japan is still very hot this summer. the main rice producing areas in eastern japan have also suffered from heat damage, and next year's rice harvest may also be affected.

some japanese analysts have warned that the time when japan's rice market may face supply shortage again next year may be earlier than expected, and the trend of rising rice prices will continue."even if the new rice is going to be put on the market in large quantities, under the current high inflation situation, it remains to be seen how much the overall price of the rice market can fall after the new rice is put on the market."

(poster news editor shi hui compiled from cctv news, xinhua news agency, china business news, international financial news, etc.)