TOKYO: Japan will hold a tender for tariff-free imported staple rice this month, earlier than the usual auction in September, to help lower soaring prices, Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said in an X social media post on Thursday.

The rice is expected to be delivered by late September instead of December in a typical year, Koizumi said.

Higher rice prices have become a serious concern for consumers and policymakers ahead of key elections in Tokyo and the parliament’s upper house.

The government has been releasing rice from its emergency stockpile in an effort to stabilise prices, and consumers have been standing in long queues to buy it at less than half averages prices.

About 800,000 metric tons out of the 900,000-ton stockpile has already been earmarked for sale by August, and Koizumi had said the government would utilise imports if needed to keep supplying the grain to the market.

Japan imports up to 100,000 tons of staple rice a year tariff-free under the “minimum access” framework agreed within the World Trade Organization.

Reuters