Agricultural Cooperative Trade “Aiming to Export About 100 Tons by the End of This Month”
(Tokyo = Yonhap News) By Correspondent Kyung Soo-hyun – With rice prices soaring in Japan, the sale of imported rice is also picking up.
According to the Yomiuri Shimbun on the 16th, although Japanese people have shown an attachment to domestically-produced rice, the skyrocketing rice prices are leading them to consider imported rice.
As a result, Aeon, Japan’s largest supermarket chain, has decided to sell rice from California starting in June.
Despite an import tariff of 341 yen (about 3,290 KRW) per kilogram, the rice can be sold at a price about 10% cheaper than Japanese rice.
Matsuyapudding Holdings, known for the beef bowl “gyudon” chain Matsuya, already uses American rice in about 80% of its outlets.
As the demand for imported rice increases, local traders and wholesalers are actively expanding rice imports.
General trading company Kanematsu has increased its planned rice imports from 10,000 tons to 20,000 tons, and is considering imports from Taiwan and Vietnam as well. Rice wholesale distributor Shinmei has reportedly already finished booking the sale of about 20,000 tons scheduled for import by July.
The newspaper reported that a change in consumer perception is also part of this shift.
A survey conducted in March by the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations in Japan with 6,342 participants showed that while 77.8% prioritized “domestic” when purchasing rice, 33.1% cited “low price.” The response rate for “low price” increased by 1.8 percentage points from the October survey last year.
Amid this, Korean rice imported into Japan is also selling out quickly.
According to NH Nonghyup Trading’s Japanese branch, NH Nonghyup International, 10 tons of Jeonnam Haenam brand rice imported to Japan earlier this month was sold out within about ten days of sales starting.
Previously, the company imported and sold 2 tons of Korean rice last March through online malls and supermarkets in Shin-Okubo, a Korea Town in Tokyo.
An NH Nonghyup Trading representative stated, “For this month’s local sales, the direct sales outlet of Hadano Agricultural Cooperative in Kanagawa Prefecture, with whom we’ve built a relationship, is participating, expanding our distribution network,” and added, “We are aiming to export about 100 tons to Japan by the end of this month, depending on the situation.”
This would mark the highest volume of rice exports from Korea to Japan in 35 years since the related statistics were recorded in 1990.
Until last month, NH Nonghyup Trading had coordinated 22 tons of exports, but as the response in Japan improved, they have been increasing their planned volumes.
According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT), Korea has exported around 10 tons of rice to Japan in 2011-2013 and 2016.
Meanwhile, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported that as rice prices soar, farmers are showing a trend towards expanding rice cultivation, and major distribution companies are even engaging in forward contracts with farmers before the rice is harvested.
Since the latter half of last year, rice prices have been on the rise in Japan, prompting the government to release reserve rice since March this year, but the prices have not stabilized as expected.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, in a nationwide survey of supermarket rice prices (5 kg basis) from April 28 to May 4, found prices at 4,214 yen (about 40,000 KRW), which is double the price from a year ago.
The Japanese government plans to adopt additional measures, such as easing bidding conditions, as there has been no noticeable effect throughout the retail distribution stages despite releasing reserve rice.