In the initial round of the auction, the ministry will sell 150,000 tons of 210,000 tons of reserved rice it plans to release. It is the first release of stockpiled rice to relieve distribution bottlenecks.
Previously, the government had limited releases to cases of serious poor harvests and large-scale disasters.
Released rice is expected to hit store shelves as early as late March. The ministry will sell stockpiled rice to major buyers on the condition that it will buy back the rice within a year.
Rice prices have been soaring as major buyers such agricultural cooperatives are racing to secure supplies.
The retail price of Koshihikari, one of major Japanese rice brands, rose 4 % in February from the previous month to a record high of 4,363 yen per 5 kilograms in central Tokyo, according to the internal affairs ministry.
The amount of rice collected by major buyers, including the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations, or Zen-Noh, as of December last year was about 210,000 tons lower than a year earlier, according to the agriculture ministry.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
Photo by Reuters
Asia News Network/The Nation
