Japan plans additional rice buyback to rebuild government reserves
Officials are also considering a shorter storage period as state rice holdings remain below the level considered appropriate.
Japan’s agriculture ministry plans to purchase another 100,000 tons of privately held rice to rebuild government reserves, according to sources. State stocks remain well below the 1 million tons considered appropriate, prompting food security concerns.
The planned purchase would follow a September decision to buy back 210,000 tons. The government has released 590,000 tons from its reserves since March 2025.
Sources said private inventories would still be high, leading the ministry to judge that supply and demand conditions increasingly favor repurchases. Their timing will likely depend on information including the outlook for the 2026 harvest, which is expected to reflect the effects of prolonged rain earlier in the year.
The ministry will also consider reducing the storage period to three or four years rather than the current five years, the sources said. That change may raise the amount of rice the government buys annually.
Projected staple-food rice demand for the year beginning in July 2027 ranges from 6.93 million to 7.1 million tons. Production for 2027 is expected to reach 6.93 million tons.
Even after the additional purchase, private inventories are forecast to stand at 2.23 million to 2.57 million tons at the end of June 2028. That would exceed the appropriate range of 1.8 million to 2 million tons.
