Despite rice making a comeback, prices still remain high. The National Supermarket Association said that there is “no stock of reasonably-priced rice.” Many stores seem to have unsold high-priced rice, it added.
Larke highlighted there may be other reasons for this, noting that “a month on from the government releasing stockpiles, prices of branded rice have only just begun to dip and, it currently seems, only slightly so far.”
When Japan’s government released its emergency stockpiles, it had sold rice directly to retailers, aiming to get these stocks to consumers at 2,000 yen per sack.
“The fact that wholesale, branded rice prices took a month to begin to decline and are still above the government’s target [of 2,000 yen per 5kg bag] suggests that it may be more than just a supply and demand issue,” Larke said.Many consumers are concerned that the stockpiled rice is old and not as tasty, he added.
Yoichi echoed the same sentiment, saying that the government’s grain stock is of poorer quality compared to newly harvested stocks of rice.
In Japan, newly harvested rice is marketed as “shinmai”, literally new rice, and is perceived to taste better. There is even a legal requirement that only rice packaged by December 31 of that year is allowed to be labelled as “shinmai.”After the next year’s harvest, the current crop will be known as “komai,” or old rice. The government reserves come from older crops, and terms like “ko-ko-komai” (literally, old-old-old rice) are being used to describe the 2021 crop.
Statements from Japan’s central bank officials indicated that while they are keeping an eye on rice prices, such sharp increases are likely to ease going forward.
BOJ governor Kazuo Ueda said in a press conference after the central bank’s June meeting that “when we look at recent data, consumer inflation is moving around 3%. But this is mostly due to rising import costs and rice prices … we expect such pressures to dissipate,” according to comments translated by Reuters.