Japan rice price falls below 4,000 yen, 1st since March

The average price was down by 256 yen from the previous week, declining for the 4th straight week and marking the first drop exceeding 100 yen since March 2022, when the ministry started releasing weekly rice prices.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba had aimed to push down rice prices to the 3,000-4,000-yen range by as early as mid-June.

The significant drop likely reflected the distribution of government stockpiled rice released under discretionary contracts.

Despite the fall, the average rice price was still 1,772 yen higher than that of a year earlier.

Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi told reporters on Monday that the country has "taken a step forward on a new stage toward curbing abnormally high rice prices."

He added, however, "Just because the average rice price fell to the 3,900-yen range, it does not mean that we can relax our efforts."

At the end of last month, major retailers started selling stockpiled rice released under discretionary contracts with the government at around 2,000 yen per 5 kilograms.

The addition of smaller retailers, including smaller supermarkets, to the list of businesses selling the stockpiled rice further boosted the effectiveness of the government's measures to tackle soaring rice prices.