Japan’s rice exports hit a fresh record high in 2025. But they grew at a slower pace, as the high price of home-grown rice spurred domestic shipments.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries says the country exported more than 48,000 tons of rice, including packages of the precooked grain, last year.

This marks the fifth consecutive year of record shipments abroad since 2020, when comparable statistics became available.

But the rate of year-on-year growth slowed to 3.7 percent, down sharply from over 20 percent in each of the previous three years through 2024.

The ministry says this is mainly because many farmers shifted shipments from overseas to the domestic market, as prices for domestically produced rice rose.

The government aims to expand rice exports to 350,000 tons a year by 2030, up more than seven-fold from last year.

Published Date: February 10, 2026