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The story
At its Food Council meeting on September 2, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries presented a draft revision to Japan’s basic rice policy guidelines, formally stating a plan to gradually buy back the 590,000 tons of government rice reserves released in 2025 under agriculture ministers Eto and Koizumi. This isn’t a literal repurchase of the exact rice that was released — instead, the government will procure an equivalent amount fresh from the market. On the forum, opinions split over the confusing “buyback” terminology, the use of no-bid contracts for procurement, and whether the “rice exodus” — consumers turning away from rice after prolonged high prices — is actually happening.
At its September 2 Food Council meeting, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries presented a draft revision to the basic rice guidelines (the Basic Guidelines on Stabilizing Rice Supply, Demand, and Prices). Among its reserve-management policies, the draft formally states a plan to gradually buy back the 590,000 tons (brown rice basis) of government rice reserves sold off last year.
Source: jacom.or.jp / Original article here
What people said
California rolls look tasty, don't they 😋
The only time I ate rice this past month was at a conveyor-belt sushi place lol
The rice industry folks are just upset they can't rake in obscene profits anymore, you know?
If things stay this way they'll take a huge loss, so they need a taxpayer-funded bailout.
Rice Merchant: Oh no, not nearly as much as you, my lord.
Bwahahaha!
(a stock bribery-skit exchange from Japanese period dramas)
Magistrate: Come now, come now~
Village Girl: Please, my lord, stop this~ Ahh~!
(more of the same corrupt-magistrate drama parody)
The official excuse is that new rice hasn't been harvested everywhere yet, but the real reason is probably to free up budget room to buy new-crop rice.
Because it's more profitable for the vendors that way.
There have been disasters left and right lately, but they haven't touched the reserve rice, have they? What's the reserve even for?
Apparently it's a no-bid (negotiated) contract.
Even at fire-sale prices under 2,000 yen, nobody's buying.
Piled up and unsold.
Seiyu (supermarket chain)
i.imgur.com/uHDr6q3.jpeg
i.imgur.com/tzsZFQq.jpeg
Even at fire-sale prices under 2,000 yen, nobody's buying.
Piled up and unsold.
Japan Meat (supermarket chain)
Back in June last year there were reeeally long lines for this stuff though.
New-crop rice at 1,850 yen — Don Quijote (discount store)
It's not necessarily 100% new-crop rice, you know.
Could be as little as 10% new rice mixed in.
This just proves it's better not to get involved with the rice industry at all.
Consumers need to realize that all those years of cheap rice meant they were exploiting the farmers.
What I want to say to rice farmers is: how about you stop handing it out for free to relatives and friends?
Forget "fair price" — realize you're being kept afloat by subsidies, not the market.
POS (point-of-sale) data doesn't lie.
https://image-tm.s2mr.jp/i/original/1788332479925.jpeg
Let's see the data from April onward too.
I think that'd be fine. It'd double as a buffer for emergencies too.
Re: #145
It doesn't even need to be rice in the first place.
That means demand disappears, and unless there's a surge of foreign residents or massive overseas exports, more farmers will end up quitting too.
Well, while idiots keep pinning all the blame on JA (the agricultural co-op), the government just keeps repeating the same bad policy.
When exactly did this "rice exodus" happen?
https://image-tm.s2mr.jp/i/original/1788332479925.jpeg
If it's selling just fine, then there's no need to buy it back, huh lol
The serious part is the shift away from rice that happened while prices stayed high. According to the industry group Organization for Stable Supply of Rice, average monthly rice consumption per person in fiscal 2025 was 4,435 grams, down 6.1% from the previous year. It looks like more households are choosing cheaper noodles and bread over rice.
https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/499122
It's been happening since this year.
They failed to notice what was happening right under their noses, misjudged demand, and that's exactly how the rice shortage happened.
Are they really about to repeat the same mistake?
Pasta and bread are actually more balanced. Rice makes you take in way too many carbs.
The textbook example of a "balanced diet" is a diabetic diet, and pasta doesn't show up in it, you know.
https://image-tm.s2mr.jp/i/original/1788314260643.jpeg
Background and key points of the discussion
This “buyback” refers to the government’s plan to purchase, from the open market, an amount of rice equal to the 590,000 tons of reserve rice released in 2025 under agriculture ministers Eto and Koizumi — not a repurchase of the exact rice that was released. Many replies in the thread misunderstood this distinction, and there was skepticism about the term “buyback” itself. The use of no-bid (negotiated) contracts for procurement also became a point of debate from a price-transparency standpoint. Another major thread was the reality of the “rice exodus”: some cited statistics from the Organization for Stable Supply of Rice (showing average monthly per-person consumption down 6.1% year-on-year in fiscal 2025) to argue that soaring prices have changed consumer behavior, while others countered with POS sales data claiming rice is “still selling fine.” Reserve management is highly sensitive to yearly production levels and international conditions, and some pointed out that prioritizing funds for new-crop purchases could mean older stock ends up getting bought back first.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “Government Rice Reserves: Ministry Formalizes Plan to Buy Back 590,000 Tons.”
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