Why is Japanese rice so expensive?
Japanese rice has always been quite expensive because Japan limits the amount of rice that can be imported (from cheaper countries).
Why does Japan do this?
Is it a good policy?
Japan imports rice from 4 main countries. Can you guess what they are?
Japan imports rice from:
1) the US
2) Thailand
3) China
4) Australia
Why do you think Japan imports from these countries?
Rice in the US and China isn’t so delicious but it’s very cheap. Farms are huge, farmers get big subsidies from the government and they get many sunny days. Restaurants buy it to make fried rice.
Thai rice is different from Japanese food so it’s used in Thai or Asian dishes.
Australia has many sunny days so they can grow lots of rice. Japan has more rainy or cloudy days.
Other reasons for the high prices of Japanese rice:
flat land
farmers age
size of farms
machines
How did these guys make rice more expensive?
Putin and Trump have created global inflation which means anything imported (like fertilizer) is more expensive.
Wheat is also more expensive these days so some companies use rice as a cheaper alternative.
The government also made mistakes. They try to predict rice demand and control the supply to match the demand.
The government said demand is higher than they expected because…
eating out
tourists
Do you believe this?
Why is supply lower than expected?
summer temperature last year
The government also paid some farmers to plant other crops instead of rice.
What is JA? What do they do?
JA = Japan Agricultural Cooperatives = 農協
Some people believe JA is setting high prices to increase profits
Another recent change is the JA usually buys all the rice from farmers and sells the rice at auction. These days big companies (restaurant chains, supermarkets) buy directly from farms, some have bought the farms. Usually these are big farms which are able to produce rice for a lower cost.
What should the government do to help make rice cheaper?
Do you think the price of rice will go down in the future?
Do you plan to try buying the stockpiled rice being sold?
Reasons:
Japan is a mountainous country and they don’t have much flat land
mountainous (adj) = “maon-tuh-nuss” has many mountains
Farms are often small and owned by families. They can’t buy expensive machines because the farms are too small
Even if a big company wanted to buy many, they are scattered in different areas.
Rice demand was higher because since the pandemic more people are eating out. The government also says tourists eat a lot of rice but personally I don’t believe it’s a big factor…