Japan Govt Panel Suggests Minimum Access Rice Sales for Staple Food

Newsfrom Japan

Society

Nov 7, 2025 21:15 (JST)

Tokyo, Nov. 7 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Fiscal System Council, which advises the finance minister, proposed at a subcommittee meeting on Friday that the government considers sales of minimum access rice for staple food as long as they do not affect markets.

Currently, the Japanese government sells most such rice at lower prices for feed and processing, after importing it without tariffs. Losses have been caused by gaps between the sales prices and procurement costs.

The council made the proposal as the amount of minimum access rice from the United States, whose import cost is relatively high, is set to increase due to Japan-U.S. tariff agreements.

Japan annually imports 770,000 tons of minimum access rice. Of the total, up to 100,000 tons is sold as staple food, while the rest is treated as general minimum access rice for feed and processing. Rice from the United States accounts for some 40 pct of general minimum access rice, but the figure is set to rise to some 70 pct under the tariff agreements.

In fiscal 2023, sales of U.S. rice resulted in a loss of 68.4 billion yen due to the gaps with the import cost, which stood at 130 yen per kilogram, compared with 84 yen for rice from Thailand. Losses are expected to expand further if U.S. rice imports increase.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]

Jiji Press