The average price of rice sold at about 1,000 supermarkets across Japan in the week through June 15 stood at ¥3,920 per 5 kilograms, slipping below ¥4,000 for the first time since the week that ended on March 2, the agriculture ministry said Monday.

The average price was down by ¥256 from the previous week, declining for the 4th straight week and marking the first drop exceeding ¥100 since March 2022, when the ministry started releasing weekly rice prices.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba had aimed to push down rice prices to the ¥3,000-¥4,000 range by as early as mid-June.

The significant drop likely reflected the distribution of government stockpiled rice released under discretionary contracts.

Despite the fall, the average rice price was still ¥1,772 higher than that of a year earlier.

Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi told reporters on Monday that the country has “taken a step forward on a new stage toward curbing abnormally high rice prices.”

He added, however, “Just because the average rice price fell to the ¥3,900 range, it does not mean that we can relax our efforts.”

At the end of last month, major retailers started selling stockpiled rice released under discretionary contracts with the government at around ¥2,000 per 5 kilograms.

The addition of smaller retailers, including smaller supermarkets, to the list of businesses selling the stockpiled rice further boosted the effectiveness of the government’s measures to tackle soaring price prices.

Published Date: June 24, 2025