News Record heat affecting this year's rice quality

The quality of rice in Japan has suffered greatly from the extreme heat this summer, resulting in a record-low harvest of top-quality rice.

The prolonged drought and heat wave that lasted until early September affected the rice production, leading to lower yields, more chalky grains and reduced prices. Only 59.6 per cent of the total rice harvested in Japan by the end of September met the criteria for first-grade rice. This is a 16 percentage point decrease from last year, as reported by the agriculture ministry on 31 October. This is the lowest figure since 2004 when the current data collection method started. The ministry has inspected 40 per cent of the expected harvest this year. The most severely impacted prefecture is Niigata, where the proportion of first-grade rice to total rice harvest fell by 60.9 percentage points to 13.5 per cent, likely to break the record of 20.3 per cent set in 2010.

Rice production in the prefecture suffered 13.5 billion JPYUSD 89 million) in damages, equivalent to 13 per cent of the rice production there in conventional years, due to the heat and drought, according to Niigata prefectural officials. "Rice farmers need support to carry on next year and beyond," said Niigata Governor Hideyo Hanazumi. Rice quality also suffered in the Tohoku region, with the ratio of first-grade rice dropping 30 percentage points to 62.6 per cent in Akita Prefecture and 41.7 points to 54.7 per cent in Yamagata Prefecture. Nationwide, 11 prefectures saw the proportion of first-grade rice fall by ten percentage points or more.

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