Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi on Monday revealed the details of a no-bid contract procedure, in which the government will sell 300,000 metric tons of stockpiled rice to major retailers, with the goal of halving what consumers are paying at supermarkets for the grain by early June.
The government will sell 200,000 tons of rice produced in 2022 and another 100,000 tons harvested in 2021 to retailers at ¥11,556 ($81) for a 60-kilogram bag of unpolished rice. With necessary costs added on, this will translate to around ¥2,160 for a 5-kg bag of rice at retailers, Koizumi said.
The government plans to shoulder the transportation costs for shipping the rice to retailers. It will also not buy new rice from the same seller that purchased the rice for its stockpile after a certain time period to make up for the loss, which is normally mandatory when the government releases such rice as it is set aside for emergencies such as natural disasters and extremely poor harvests.
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