An unusual situation is occurring at grocery stores across the country, as newly harvested rice from the 2026 crop, which has just begun to appear on store shelves, is selling for lower prices than that harvested last year.
This is happening because wholesalers are selling rice they purchased last year to retailers such as supermarkets at high prices, while the price of the 2026 crop is lower due to expectations of a bumper harvest.
On Wednesday, at the Tobu Store chain’s Maenocho branch in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo, newly harvested Hazuki Minori-brand rice was being sold for ¥2,786, including tax, per 5 kilograms. Next to it was Koshihikari-brand rice harvested in 2025, priced at ¥3,866.
“Rice is a staple food,” said local part-time worker. “The new crop is cheaper than last year, so it’s more affordable for me, which is a big help.”
While it varies by type, when new rice hits the market, the price of the previous year’s crop usually falls, even for popular brands like Koshihikari. However, this year, many supermarkets across the nation are selling rice from the 2025 crop at a higher price than that from the 2026 crop.
“It’s an unusual situation that new rice is cheaper than old rice,” said the manager of the Maenocho Tobu Store.
The current situation comes as prices are falling for this year’s crop — a sharp reversal from the soaring prices of the so-called Reiwa-era rice crisis.
At regional branches of the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives, the advance payments made to producers when rice is collected have dropped significantly from last year.
For instance, JA Zen-Noh Niigata in Niigata City, a prefectural chapter of the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations, has significantly lowered the advance payment it offers for standard Koshihikari brand rice to ¥18,500 per 60 kilograms harvested this year from ¥30,000 at the start of the previous year.
However, distributors still hold large stockpiles of old rice purchased last year at high prices, which they are not in a position to sell off at low prices now.
According to the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry, private sector inventories as of the end of June stood at 2.43 million metric tons, far exceeding the appropriate range of 1.8 million metric tons to 2 million metric tons.
An official of a major wholesaler said: “Inventories are piling up right now. We have to lower prices — we know it means operating at a loss, but there’s only so much we can do.”
Facing what could be described as a rice surplus, the government has decided to repurchase a portion of the government-stockpiled rice it released last year within this month.
Furthermore, the government has already decided to purchase rice from the 2026 crop, and it will begin stockpiling it shortly. It is also considering additional repurchases of the once-released government-stockpiled rice, a move that could lead to tighter rice prices ahead.
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