Japan is setting sights on significantly boosting its rice exports by almost eightfold to 350,000 tonnes by the year 2030, according to Masakazu Kawaguchi, an agriculture ministry official responsible for the rice trade.
This ambitious target comes amid a notable domestic shortage of the staple grain, a situation exacerbated by recent challenging harvest conditions and consumer panic-buying following a “megaquake” seismic warning.
Over the past six decades, rice consumption within Japan has dwindled by more than half as the population diversified its diet to include more bread, noodles, and other energy alternatives.
Despite the current supply constraints, the government sees this expansion as part of a broader national initiative aimed at enhancing agricultural efficiency and adapting to demographic challenges posed by the drop in aging population.
The export target for 2030 greatly increases from the 2024 volume of approximately 45,000 tonnes, which had a sales value of 12 billion yen.
