Japan Govt OKs Bill to Promote Demand-Based Rice Production

Tokyo, April 3 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government Friday adopted a bill to revise the staple food law to require rice producers to make proactive efforts to align their production with demand.

The current law to ensure supply and price stability for staple crops, such as rice, has provisions on production adjustment including numerical targets even after the government abolished its “gentan” rice acreage reduction policy in 2018.

According to the bill, the provisions will be removed. Instead, the revised law would explicitly stipulate the government’s long-standing policy of promoting rice production that matches demand, with the aim of preventing price declines due to oversupply.

The bill also includes a measure to reform the rice stockpiling system, envisioning the establishment of a new framework that would have the private sector manage part of the national rice reserves.

The revision would allow the government to release stockpiled rice when supply shortages arise due to strong demand, not only when rice production declines.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]