Japan Retail Rice Prices Fall for 1st Time in 3 Weeks

   Tokyo, June 2 (Jiji Press)--The average price of rice sold at some 1,000 supermarkets across Japan in the week through May 25 fell for the first time in three weeks, the agriculture ministry said Monday.
   The average price stood at 4,260 yen per 5 kilograms, down 25 yen from the previous week, apparently because the government's released stockpiled rice is becoming available at stores.
   The distribution pace, however, is still slow. The latest average was still double the year-before level.
   The government sold a total of 310,000 tons of stockpiled rice at auctions held between March and April.
   Usually, released stockpiled rice is blended with other rice for sale at stores. The proportion of blended rice accounted for 36 pct of all rice sold, up 2 percentage points from the previous week, the ministry said.

(2025/06/02-23:05)