TOKYO: Japan said on Friday that “all options” were being considered to stabilise rice prices, including the use of up to 100,000 metric tons of tariff-free staple rice the government imports a year, and further emergency imports beyond that quota.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

The doubling of rice prices since last year has become a major concern for consumers as well as policymakers ahead of key elections in Tokyo and nationwide in June and July.

The government has so far earmarked about 600,000 metric tons of rice for release from its emergency stockpile in an effort to lower prices. Koizumi has said he was ready to release the entire stock – or another 300,000 tons – as needed, but it remains to be seen how much that would help prices fall.

KEY QUOTES

“If you look at other products, (emergency imports) are something that we naturally turn to. When bird flu causes a shortage of eggs, for example, we’ve imported from Brazil,” Japan’s Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told a press conference.

“Maybe rice has always been seen as sacred ground but we have to drop that thinking and consider all options to achieve stable prices.”

BY THE NUMBERS

Japan has a limit of 100,000 metric tons a year of tariff-free “minimum access” staple rice imports, as agreed with the World Trade Organisation. As homegrown rice prices have soared, demand for cheaper, foreign-made rice has surged, even for imports outside this tariff-free quota.

Rice prices in Japanese supermarkets averaged 4,260 yen ($29.62) per 5 kg (11 pounds) in the week to May 25, about double the level from a year earlier.

CONTEXT

Shortly after taking over as agriculture minister last month, Koizumi ended the slow and cumbersome distribution method of stockpiled rice to cooperatives and wholesalers via auction. The emergency rice is now being sold directly to retailers, which are generally selling it for about 2,000 yen per 5 kg.

WHAT’S NEXT

How much average rice prices come down across the market and what further policies, if any, are taken will remain in focus as Japan approaches crucial elections.

Reuters