OSAKA - Japan’s largest rice wholesaler, Shinmei Holdings, has laid out its view of where rice prices are heading and how it plans to secure the staple’s future, as households grapple with the sharpest price pressure in years and farmers continue to exit an industry where profits are thin.
Shinmei is best known in western Japan for its red-packaged “Akafuji” rice, but the group has broadened far beyond wholesale rice distribution, spanning packaged cooked rice, dairy products, produce distribution and the “Uobei” sushi chain, whose name signals a fixation on rice quality. At one Uobei location in Hyogo Prefecture, customers praised the texture and warmth of the rice, while staff said rice is cooked around the clock and managed so it reaches sushi-friendly temperatures.
Rice prices rose rapidly after supply disruptions that began around three years ago, prompting the government to release stockpiles and intensifying a sense of scarcity in retail channels, the program said. Prices continued climbing afterward, with a fresh record set in January, keeping consumers focused on whether relief is coming.
Shinmei President Fujio said rice prices are beginning to soften in supermarkets and argued that swelling inventories are a key reason. He cited privately held stocks across the supply chain, including inventories held by JA, wholesalers and others, saying they stood at roughly 3.56 million tonnes at the end of December, up about 850,000 tonnes from a year earlier, which he described as the highest level on record. The buildup, he said, reflects demand weakness after prices rose too far, forcing wholesalers and retailers to cut prices to protect sales volumes, at least through discount campaigns, and he pointed to offerings that are starting to dip below 4,000 yen for 5 kilograms.
At the same time, Fujio warned that the industry’s structural challenge remains the collapse in farm profitability and an accelerating decline in agricultural workers. He said rice farmers can earn the equivalent of 10 yen an hour in some cases, a remark used on the program to underline how difficult it is to sustain production. With Japan’s farm population shrinking and aging, he argued that boosting scale among motivated entrants, rather than trying to reverse the overall demographic tide, is the most realistic path.
The segment traced Fujio’s career through the upheaval of the 1993 rice shortage, when a poor harvest left Japan short of domestic supply and triggered emergency imports, and through a shift in regulation in the mid-1990s that expanded where rice could be sold, opening a path for large wholesalers to deepen ties with supermarkets. It also recounted setbacks after Shinmei’s push into Tokyo, including a major labeling error that sparked retail disruption, and described how Fujio sought to rebuild trust through an all-day apology visit that later strengthened the relationship with a key client.
The program also highlighted Shinmei’s push into produce distribution, which it said now accounts for a sizable share of group sales, and framed the move as part of a broader effort to help farmers stabilize income by producing higher-margin items alongside rice. In Saitama Prefecture, it introduced a Shinmei-backed training initiative that provides land, machinery and instruction, with participants aiming to become independent farmers after several years, positioning the project as a rare corporate attempt to cultivate large-scale operators.
Asked what leadership requires, Fujio said he sees himself and his company not as champions but as challengers, arguing that a “hungry” mindset is essential to protect food production in a country where daily life still depends on rice, and he said the recent price turbulence reminded consumers how vulnerable the system can become when supply and confidence break down.
Source: Television OSAKA NEWS
