Rice Secured by Major Japan Buyers Down 254,000 Tons

   Tokyo, March 31 (Jiji Press)--The amount of rice collected by major Japanese rice buyers as of the end of February was down 254,000 tons from a year earlier, the agriculture ministry said Monday.
   Major rice buyers, including the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations, or Zen-Noh, are struggling to secure Japan's staple food due to a serious rice shortage that hit stores in summer 2024.
   After the amount of rice secured by such buyers had declined by 206,000 tons at the end of last December, the ministry decided to release 210,000 tons of government stockpiled rice, citing distribution bottlenecks.
   With the latest ministry data showing a further fall in the amount of rice secured, the ministry may be prompted to consider additional rice stockpile releases.
   The ministry on Monday also released the results of a survey on the rice supply situation among rice farmers and smaller buyers and wholesalers as of January this year.

(2025/03/31-22:43)