일본 쌀 인사이트

U.S. President Donald Trump has complained that Japan was not buying American rice, putting pressure on Tokyo as it struggles to seal a trade deal before so-called “reciprocal” tariffs are set to kick in on July 9. Tokyo has not budged on rice, a staple food and cultural heritage that it says is fundamental to its national food security. The rice market is largely protected with trade barriers, although a domestic shortage and a spike in prices have led to a surge in imports this year. WHAT IS JAPAN’S TRADE POLICY ON RICE? Under a World Trade Organization (WTO) “minimum access” framework introduced in 1995, Japan imports about 770,000 metric tons of rice tariff-free every year. Up to 100,000 tons of that is earmarked for staple rice, equivalent to about 1% of total domestic consumption of about 7 million tons. Of the total 767,000 tons Japan imported in the last fiscal year to March 2025, 45% came from the United States. Beyond the “minimum access” framework, Japan imposes a levy ...

For more than half a century, the Japanese government has encouraged its rice farmers to grow less of the crop so that prices of the national staple grain remained relatively high and steady. Now, under an ambitious agricultural policy announced this year, Tokyo is preparing for a reversal, envisaging a future of bountiful output that would secure the country’s food security without sending prices into freefall and hurting its politically influential farmers. The new direction has taken on an unexpected urgency as Japanese grapple with a shortage of the all-important staple, which has prompted a historic spike in prices, a flood of imports, and interest from President Donald Trump, who has renewed pressure on Japan to buy U.S. rice as part of the allies’ elusive trade deal. It is a policy that many farmers like Kazuhachi Hosaka welcome in principle, but with trepidation because questions over how it would work in practice remain unanswered. The government is aiming to complete a ...

The agriculture ministry will survey about 70,000 rice-related businesses across Japan to determine the status of their sales and inventory, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Tuesday. The survey will be the first conducted under the staple food law since rice distribution was substantially liberalized in 2004. The ministry’s aim is to determine