Japan Rice & Farm Prices

Contract Prices by Origin and Variety

The volume-weighted average price actually contracted between shippers handling 5,000 tonnes a year or more and wholesalers, in yen per 60kg bag of brown rice, including freight, packaging and consumption tax. The all-brand average is published by the Ministry and weighted by the previous crop year's inspected quantity; it is shown as released and is not recomputed from the brands beside it. A brand-month with no contract, or with under 100 tonnes contracted, is not published and stays a gap in the line.

Brands

Price Against Cost of Production

What a crop sold for against what it cost to grow, per 60kg, by crop year. Three cost levels are published and all three are shown: total spend, cost after the straw and other by-products are netted off, and full cost with interest on the farmer's own capital and rent on the farmer's own land imputed. A price can sit above the first and below the third. The price line is the mean of the twelve monthly contract prices for that crop's marketing year, September to August — a calculation, and its formula is below.

Private Rice Inventories

End-of-month stocks of brown rice held by the trade, in ten thousand tonnes. Rice still on the farm and the government reserve are both outside this table. Within each stage the current crop and one-year-old rice are itemised; rice two years old and older sits in the stage total with no row of its own, so the parts do not add to the whole and are not meant to. The current crop is a real zero before the harvest, not a gap.

Farm Output and Input Prices

What farmers are paid and what farmers pay, on one index base. The third view divides the first by the second: the farmer's terms of trade, which is a calculation and carries its formula. This is the confirmed annual report, published more than a year after the year it covers, so it is the deepest public history of Japanese farm-gate and input prices rather than a timely indicator. Input prices run from April 1957 and output prices from April 1963.

Brand Detail

Every 産地品種銘柄 the Ministry has priced, on its latest published month. Prices are official; the changes and the twelve-month average are calculated from them. A brand the Ministry has stopped pricing keeps its history and is marked with the month it was last published, so a frozen line is never read as a current one.

Latest values as text and table

Agricultural price indices — output and inputs

Latest reading, December 2024: Output Prices 137.6 index; Input Prices 120.8 index; Fertiliser 139 index; Feed 136.7 index.

Latest values, as published
PeriodFarm output prices (index)Farm input prices (index)Rice (index)Farm output prices · YoY (%)
Dec 2024137.6120.8149.023.7
Nov 2024130.7120.1145.719.5
Oct 2024128.1119.8142.06.7
Sep 2024121.4121.1133.86.7
Aug 2024113.3121.2104.09.2
Jul 2024110.2121.499.44.8
Jun 2024111.1120.199.28.0
May 2024116.3119.998.57.9
Apr 2024113.7120.198.45.5
Mar 2024114.0121.098.25.4
Feb 2024109.8120.898.00.5
Jan 2024106.7120.598.00.7
Dec 2023111.2120.093.38.4

YoY: (index[t] / index[t−12 months] − 1) × 100, from published index values.

Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries — Agricultural Price Statistics (農業物価統計). · Data through December 2024 · JSON · CSV

Private rice inventories — by stage and crop age

Latest reading, August 2026: Trade Stock 150 10k t brown rice; From Peak −201 10k t brown rice; Shippers 108 10k t brown rice; Wholesalers 42 10k t brown rice.

Latest values, as published
PeriodTrade stock, total (10k t brown rice)Shippers (10k t brown rice)Wholesalers (10k t brown rice)Trade stock, total · YoY (%)
Aug 2026150.0108.042.078.6
Jul 2026162.0117.045.076.1
Jun 2026194.0143.051.060.3
May 2026222.0165.057.050.0
Apr 2026250.0184.065.048.8
Mar 2026277.0208.069.053.9
Feb 2026300.0234.067.046.3
Jan 2026323.0251.072.041.0
Dec 2025340.0261.079.034.4
Nov 2025331.0250.081.027.8
Oct 2025307.0227.080.025.8
Sep 2025198.0144.053.032.9
Aug 202584.051.033.029.2

YoY: (value[t] / value[t−12 months] − 1) × 100, from published values.

Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries — Private rice inventories (民間在庫の推移). · Data through August 2026 · JSON · CSV

Rice contract prices — by origin and variety

Latest reading, August 2026: All Brands 31,556 ¥/60kg; From Peak −5,502 ¥/60kg; Uonuma Koshi 38,179 ¥/60kg; Nanatsuboshi 31,070 ¥/60kg.

Latest values, as published
PeriodAll-brand average (¥/60kg)Uonuma Koshihikari (¥/60kg)Hokkaido Nanatsuboshi (¥/60kg)All-brand average · YoY (%)
Aug 202631,55638,17931,07016.1
Jul 202632,48641,01632,72220.7
Jun 202631,30533,92031,96913.4
May 202633,16441,34534,50619.9
Apr 202633,44742,63934,78823.4
Mar 202633,34542,83234,93828.9
Feb 202635,05642,87532,95832.4
Jan 202635,46540,11735,56336.8
Dec 202536,07541,78936,60046.3
Nov 202536,49343,09834,76152.3
Oct 202537,05842,04936,41655.6
Sep 202536,89542,25736,54062.5
Aug 202527,17924,19127,66168.5

YoY: (value[t] / value[t−12 months] − 1) × 100, from published values.

Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries — Rice contract prices (米の相対取引価格). · Data through August 2026 · JSON · CSV

Rice production cost — national and by planted-area band

Latest reading, 2023: Full production cost per 60kg 15,948 ¥.

Latest values, as published
PeriodFull production cost per 60kg (¥)Full production cost per 60kg · YoY (%)
202315,9484.4
202215,2733.5
202114,758−1.9
202015,046−0.7
201915,155−1.3
201815,3521.4
201715,1473.9
201614,584−5.2
201515,390−0.2
201415,4161.2

YoY: (value[t] / value[t−12 months] − 1) × 100, from published values.

Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries — Farm Management Statistics, rice production cost. · Data through January 2023 · JSON · CSV · Markdown