Japan retail rice prices fall for 1st time in 3 weeks

The average price stood at 4,260 yen per 5 kilograms, down 25 yen from the previous week, apparently because the government's released stockpiled rice is becoming available at stores.
   
The distribution pace, however, is still slow. The latest average was still double the year-before level.

The government sold a total of 310,000 tons of stockpiled rice at auctions held between March and April.

Usually, released stockpiled rice is blended with other rice for sale at stores. The proportion of blended rice accounted for 36 per cent of all rice sold, up 2 percentage points from the previous week, the ministry said.

Hopes are rising that a bigger proportion of blended rice would help tame soaring prices of rice in general.

Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has switched to selling stockpiled rice through discretionary contracts instead of through competitive bidding.

Some stockpiled rice under the new system has already hit stores and sold out quickly in many cases. Prices stood at around 2,000 yen per 5 kg, a numerical target set by Koizumi.
   
Whether overall rice prices will fall further depends on whether stockpiled rice released under the discretionary contracts will be widely available at stores.
   
According to the ministry, the lowest retail rice price at supermarkets and drugstores by prefecture as of Thursday was Hokkaido's 2,980 yen per 5 kg, excluding tax. Wakayama had the highest price at 4,480 yen.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]