THE price of newly harvested rice has surged 48 per cent from a year earlier to the highest level in 31 years, reflecting a shortage caused by extreme summer heat that reduced the previous season’s harvest, the farm ministry’s data showed Friday.
The average price of unpolished rice sold by the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations and other supplier bodies to wholesalers was 22,700 yen ($151) for 60 kilogrammes in September, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries reported. In Japan, rice from each year’s harvest begins appearing on store shelves around September.
This year’s price is the highest since 1993 when it reached 23,607 yen, according to data from the National Rice Exchange and Price Formation Centre, though the ministry’s data only goes back to 2008.
Kyodo
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