‘Rice Minister’ Koizumi Faces Urgent Task to Bring Prices Down Quickly

Minister to sell rice stockpiles at lower price, drop bidding system | The Asahi Shimbun Asia & Japan Watch

In response to surging rice prices, the newly appointed farm minister announced plans to scrap the bidding system and begin direct sales of the government’s rice reserves to wholesalers.

New Farm Minister Shinjiro Koizumi Aims for Rice under ¥3,000 on Store Shelves

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Shinjiro Koizumi aims to get rice on store shelves under ¥3,000 for 5 kilograms, the new minister said on a TV program on Friday.

Japan minister wants rice on shelves for under 3,000 yen, Jiji reports

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s new Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said on Friday he aimed to get rice on store shelves for under 3,000 yen ($20.86) for a 5-kg bag, Jiji reported. ($1 = 143.8000 yen) (Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

‘Rice minister’ Koizumi faces urgent task to bring prices down quickly

Lawmakers have been questioning whether auctioning stockpiled rice is really effective in bringing down prices.

At his inauguration press conference on the 21st, Agriculture Minister Koizumi announced that the fourth round of auctions for government stockpiled rice, which had been scheduled for the end of this month, would be temporarily canceled. He cited Prime Minister Ishiba's instructions to use discretionary contracts to sell the rice. Up until now, the auctions had been conducted through open competitive bidding, but it had been pointed out that thi…

Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said on the 23rd that he plans to release unlimited amounts of stockpiled rice under discretionary contracts if there is demand, and to publish the retail price of rice by region every week.