★Rice is scarce! It’s expensive! Even in supermarkets where the shelves are empty, the price of rice has risen from 1,700 yen in March to 3,000 yen in less than half a year due to last year’s extreme heat and inbound tourists. Recently, there has been a shortage of rice in circulation, and the price has been soaring. What on earth is going on? In the rice section of a supermarket in Osaka City, signs were posted saying, “We are currently on backorder for rice,” and “Limit one bottle per family.” (Reporter’s report) “Rice is still in short supply at this supermarket, and it seems that supplies are unstable.” Some supermarkets have empty shelves. The rice shortage is due to a poor rice harvest caused by last year’s extreme heat and an increase in foreign tourists. (Fresh Market Aoi President Uchida Toshihito) “Demand from inbound tourists has increased dramatically, and rice is being sold at restaurants, so there is a general shortage of rice in the market.” In fact, there is data that shows that the demand for rice has increased due to the sudden increase in foreign tourists. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, rice demand in the year ending June this year increased 1.6% from last year to 7.02 million tons. Rice has been gradually becoming scarce since around spring this year, and currently stocks are about half of what they usually are. This has led to an increase in prices. (President Uchida) “Since March, (purchase prices) have been rising by 15% to 20% every month. In March, rice sold for around 1,700 to 1,800 yen for 5 kg, but now it’s over 3,000 yen.” The price of early-season rice that arrived last week is also nearly double the usual price. Consumers are worried about the sudden rise in rice prices. (Shopper) “It’s expensive. I can’t buy regular rice so I’ve been buying packaged rice lately.” “It feels like the price is going up every day. My children are growing, so I would prefer something cheaper if possible.”
There must be loads piled up in the agricultural cooperative’s warehouse, right? I feel like it’s even more scarce because people who don’t normally eat rice are buying it.
Supermarkets and drugstores are short on rice and it’s expensive, but the small farmers’ market in my neighborhood always has JA rice on hand for 2,100 yen for 5 kg.
>>26 No, the middleman. But the middleman’s storage costs, labor costs, and fuel costs for transportation are also rising, so I wonder? I’m sure someone somewhere is making a profit, but not the whole industry.
They’re piled up at the hardware store, but even though they’re apparently on sale, they’re so expensive that no one is paying any attention to them. Another 30% off, so maybe half price?
>>35 You can’t restrict the news. It’s up to the people to receive it. I was really shocked when we ran out of tissues because of COVID. Do you know about the oil crisis?
The government has stockpiled rice, what on earth is the agricultural cooperative doing? They’re definitely withholding money and raising prices. They’re already a shitty farm that’s completely subsidized.
Bad weather causes the rice to lose moisture, making it hard to produce tasty rice. So high-quality rice is more expensive, and even less-good rice goes up in price due to supply and demand.
It’s funny that the weak yen means foreigners will eat up our rice and Japanese people will have nothing to eat lol. How far will the LDP members go in selling out their country and handing over wealth only to capitalists lol?
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