news

rice is a common staple food on japanese tables. sushi, rice balls, beef rice, red bean rice, etc., which are popular in japan, are all made from rice. however, this summer, there was a shortage of rice supply in japan, which the japanese media called the "reiwa rice riot."

from july this year,supermarkets in nagano prefecture have adopted measures due to insufficient rice supply.bethe purchase restriction policy of "one bag per household"due to insufficient supply, some supermarkets in hiroshima prefecture have adopted a small packaging strategy. from the end of june, they stopped selling 10 kg rice and switched to selling 5 kg and 4 kg rice. due to the shortage of rice, the price of locally produced "koshihikari rice" has also risen to 2,400 yen/5 kg, an increase of about 300 yen over the same period last year.

the rice shortage was further exacerbated by the earthquake in miyazaki prefecture in august.. since the japan meteorological agency issued a major earthquake warning for the nankai trough after the earthquake, rice, which was already in short supply, became a "disaster reserve material", and a nationwide rice buying spree occurred across japan, with rice shelves in many supermarkets being "emptied". at present, although the disaster alert has been lifted, the overall situation has not improved, and rice is still hard to find. according to media reports, new rice produced in chiba prefecture has recently begun to be gradually put on the market, but it will be snapped up as soon as it is put on the shelves.

rice on the shelves of a chain supermarket in tokyo, japan, photographed on july 26. photo by zhong ya (xinhua)

why does rice shortage occur?

the official explanation given by japan mainly focuses on three aspects.firstin 2023, the weather was extremely hot and the rice ears generally did not grow well, which had a significant impact on rice yield and quality.secondafter the covid-19 pandemic, people's demand for dining out has recovered, and the number of foreign tourists to japan has increased sharply due to the depreciation of the yen, leading to a significant increase in rice consumption.thirdthe earthquake disaster warning intensified the panic among the people, causing concerns about rice shortages from all walks of life to quickly turn into a "rice rush."

another factor that has been criticized by all walks of life is thatin the process of dealing with the rice shortage, the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries of japan, as the main responsible unit, "lay down".japanese prime minister fumio kishida recently held a meeting and asked the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries to "stand on the side of consumers and work hard to solve the rice circulation problem." however, the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries did not seem to take any other actions except passing on the pressure and asking wholesalers and consignees to "work harder."

faced with the rice turmoil that has been going on for some time, local governments have been overwhelmed. a survey in osaka prefecture showed that 80% of local retail stores have run out of rice. on august 26, osaka governor yoshimura hirofumi asked the government to release reserve rice, saying that "there is no need to let reserve rice sleep in warehouses."

many years ago, the japanese government implemented the "5-year rice reserve system", which means purchasing 200,000 tons of new rice every year and keeping it for 5 years to cope with the possible rice crop failure crisis. the old rice that has not been used after 5 years of reserve will be sold as feed. according to statistics, the japanese government spends 40 billion to 50 billion yen on this project every year, which is borne by the fiscal budget. therefore, the japanese government's grain reserves should be relatively sufficient.

but,however, the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries believes that there is no need to use up reserve rice.minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries tetsuo sakamoto said at a press conference on august 27 that new rice will be available in september, and the release of reserve grain requires a bidding process. once the process is completed, the rice shortage problem may have been alleviated. the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries believes that new rice produced in chiba prefecture and ibaraki prefecture has been available, and rice in niigata prefecture and the tohoku region will be harvested soon, so the supply of new rice will reach a peak in the near future. in addition, because the public's demand for stockpiling is weakening, panic buying will gradually decrease in the future, and inventory will also recover accordingly.

although the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries expressed confidence,but the public is generally dissatisfied. because the signs of rice shortage in japan did not appear recently. if the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries had taken action earlier, there might not have been a rice riot. moreover, the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries had clearly released data more than a month ago, saying that as of june 2024, the demand for staple rice increased by 110,000 tons year-on-year to 7.02 million tons, while private stocks decreased by 20% year-on-year to only 1.56 million tons during the same period. the gap between supply and demand has widened, but no targeted preventive measures have been taken.

it should be said that whether it is the summer heat theory, the tourists "eating up" theory or the disaster stockpiling theory, these are only short-term factors that induce the rice shortage.the real reason for japan's rice shortage is policy orientation。

in order to maintain rice prices, japan has long implemented a "anti-counterfeiting" policy aimed at actively controlling the scale of cultivated land and rice production. although the policy was stopped in 2018, the inhibitory effect on rice production is difficult to reverse. in addition, the japanese government has been paying subsidies to farmers who grow crops such as feed rice and soybeans to "promote" the transformation of the planting industry to specialized crops. under this policy orientation, it is not surprising that the inventory of edible rice has decreased and the price is expensive.

there are different opinions on how long the rice turmoil will last. the latest consumer price index released by the tokyo metropolitan area in august shows that rice prices have risen sharply by 26.3% compared with the same period last year. it is expected that the number of farmers who switch to growing rice as a staple food will increase in the future, and the rice shortage problem is expected to be alleviated.

however, the more pressing issue is now. it is the critical time for japan to harvest new rice, but the sudden attack of typhoon shanshan not only delayed the harvesting process of farmers, but also may cause devastating damage to the rice fields that have not yet been harvested. if the new rice cannot be put on the market on schedule, i am afraid that the turmoil caused by the rice shortage will continue for a long time.