Alarm in Japan: Too Many Tourists Leave the Country Without Rice

Stocks are at their lowest level since 1999

Japan’s private sector rice stocks fell to a very low 1.56 million tons in June. This is the lowest figure ever recorded in the country since 1999, when the Tokyo government began monthly monitoring of stocks of this “strategic” product for Japanese cuisine.

Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture wrote in a statement that on a year-over-year basis, stocks were down 20% from the same month the previous year. The Ministry of Agriculture attributed “the unprecedented decline in rice stocks” to “a sharp increase in inbound tourist traffic, which has dramatically increased demand.” Secondly, the authorities pointed the finger at the negative effects that “last year’s abnormal heat wave had on crops.”

Japanese experts have predicted that too high temperatures this year will affect the yields of rice fields across the entire Asian country. Traders immediately assumed that prices for consumers would rise as a result. These days, Tokyo has recorded temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius.

Japan’s overall rice demand has fallen in recent years, especially due to the effect of the country’s “demographic decline,” but between June 2023 and the same month in 2024, the influx of tourists from around the world boosted monthly consumption by 110,000 tons.