Japanese rice growers said that due to the current sharp increase in the cost of raw materials and agricultural machinery, the continued decline in rice prices has brought them increasing pressure, and they hope that the public can understand the relatively high price of rice.
According to the latest official data released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan, the average price of a 5-kg package of rice in supermarkets has been declining for four consecutive weeks, but the overall rice price is still high.
Hideo Ito is a rice grower in Chiba Prefecture, one of the main rice producing areas in Japan. Ito currently manages about 100 hectares of rice fields in an cooperative together with other farmers, producing about 600,000 kilograms of rice annually.
Ito said that rice seedlings, fertilizers, agricultural equipment and factory buildings are all purchased by the cooperative, and farmers pay fees according to the acreage of their own rice fields and the time they use the equipment. Due to the sharp rise in raw material prices, production costs have risen sharply. Ito said that before rice prices began to rise in 2024, his cooperative had been in deficit for three consecutive years.
Ito said that only when the price of rice increases can the operational difficulties and labor shortages faced by the Japanese rice industry be fundamentally resolved.
"The price of a combine harvester that used to cost 16 million yen (about 111,200 U.S. dollars) has risen to more than 20 million yen (about 139,000 U.S. dollars), and the price of a tractor that used to cost 6 million yen (about 41,700 U.S. dollars) has risen to 8 million yen (about 55,600 U.S. dollars). The cost is still rising. Although consumers think that rice is expensive, once the price of rice falls, farmers will fall into deficit," Ito said.
The head of a rice store who buys rice from the cooperatives in Chiba said that the retail prices of several types of rice have risen by nearly 30 percent compared to last year. Although the government has lowered the average retail price of rice in supermarkets by releasing reserve rice, rice buyers, including agricultural cooperatives, have generally raised the purchase price of new rice so far this year.
In order to ensure a stable supply of rice, the Japanese government has adjusted its rice production policy from reduction to an increase this year. Yet due to the influence of many factors, whether rice production can be increased this year remains unknown.
Declining rice price in Japan poses high pressure on growers
