Rice crisis: Japan imports grain from South Korea for first time in more than 25 years (www.theguardian.com)
from MicroWave@lemmy.world to world@lemmy.world on 22 Apr 14:56
https://lemmy.world/post/28563560

Japanese consumers who used to treat foreign-grown rice with scepticism have been forced to develop a taste for it amid domestic shortage

Japan has imported rice from South Korea for the first time in a quarter of a century in an attempt to address soaring prices and growing consumer anger.

South Korean rice arrived in Japan last month for the first time since 1999, according to media reports, as the price of domestically produced grain continued to rise, despite government attempts to relieve the pressure on shoppers.

The price of Japan-grown rice has more than doubled since this time last year, fuelling demand for cheaper foreign grain, despite the heavy tariffs imposed on imports.

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technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 22 Apr 15:06 next collapse

This doesn’t bode well for south koreans.

CidVicious@sh.itjust.works on 22 Apr 15:41 next collapse

Er, I seem to recall reading that calrose rice (as pictured in the preview) is the most popular variety in Japan, and the “cal” is California. Is this just about a subset of people who prefer domestically grown varieties?

xep@fedia.io on 22 Apr 15:51 next collapse

It's very unlikely that a non-domestic cultivar would be the most popular variety in Japan. Anecdotally I hear Koshihikari mentioned often, but I don't have actual hard figures on what's the most popular.

CidVicious@sh.itjust.works on 22 Apr 16:02 collapse

Huh I can’t find a reference so perhaps what I read was a “in taste tests most people prefer” rather than being based on sales volume. I remember it mostly because it seemed like an odd fact to me.

MuskyMelon@lemmy.world on 22 Apr 19:12 collapse

Calrose is pretty good when you get the water ratio right but Japanese pearl rice is far superior. Unfortunately, there’s not as much of it cultivated and it’s expensive.

taiyang@lemmy.world on 22 Apr 16:51 collapse

I heard about this from my wife (who is Japanese), and it’s mostly a bad harvest along with few secondary reasons. If you’re like me and thought it’s the USs fault, it probably isn’t helping with trade but Japan can still very much import rice from the US. Korea just makes more sense right now, probably.

In fact, ironically, tarrifs might actually help-- less US demand for Japanese rice means very slight increase in domestic supply. But it’s likely not a lot.

HubertManne@piefed.social on 22 Apr 19:05 collapse

I had seen mentioned the japanese government did something in the last few years that disincentivized rice growing.