{"id":144642,"date":"2025-04-07T14:53:25","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T10:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abcmedia.am\/?p=144642"},"modified":"2025-04-07T15:22:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T11:22:13","slug":"to-ease-high-rice-prices-japans-government-releases-strategic-reserves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abcmedia.am\/en\/news\/144642\/","title":{"rendered":"To ease high rice prices, Japan\u2019s government releases strategic reserves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Japan has released strategic reserves of rice to ease prices of the nation’s most important food, CNN<\/a> writes.<\/p>\n

In recent years, a combination of bad weather, heatwaves and the threats of typhoons and earthquakes have sparked bouts of panic-buying in the nation of 124 million people.<\/p>\n

The average price of a 60-kilogram bag rose to around $160 last year – up 55 per cent compared to two years ago, according to government figures.<\/p>\n

The situation has become so dire that the government announced in February that it would release 210,000 tons of rice – more than a fifth of what it holds in its contingency reserve – for auction. The first bags of the reserve rice have now gone on sale in supermarkets.<\/p>\n

The Japanese government built its rice reserve in 1995, two years after an unexpected cool summer crippled rice harvests forcing it to import overseas grains.<\/p>\n

“Prices now are exceptionally high,” Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Taku Eto said ahead of the auction. “But I urge everyone not to worry,” he added, saying that he expected the injection of rice into the market would mean prices “eventually come down.”<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"