Arya News - While rice for sake production has long been traded at a higher price than table rice, the price of table rice is now higher than that of sake rice, causing an increasing number of growers to shift to table rice production.
TOYAMA – The skyrocketing prices of rice as a staple food is also impacting sake production.
While rice for sake production has long been traded at a higher price than table rice, the price of table rice is now higher than that of sake rice, causing an increasing number of growers to shift to table rice production. Since this will cause a sake rice shortage, the price of sake rice harvested this year is expected to increase.
The registration of traditional sake brewing techniques as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage last December was a tailwind for the sake industry, however, the industry has been shaken by this unexpected turn of events.
“The purchase price of sake rice harvested in 2025 will be more than 30% higher than rice harvested in 2024, which is an unprecedented increase,” said Keiki Hane, president of Toyama-based Fumigiku Sake Brewery. Toyama Prefecture is said to be where riots caused by the high price of rice that erupted across Japan in the Taisho era (1912-1926) began, and the brewery was established in 1916.
The brewery uses about 250 tons of brown rice a year for sake brewing. The purchase price per 60 kilograms of Gohyakumangoku rice grown in the prefecture was ¥16,000 in 2023 and ¥18,000 in 2024, but the brewery has been informed by producers that the price of the rice harvested in 2025 is expected to be ¥24,000. A simple calculation shows that the brewery’s expenses will increase by ¥25 million.
“Sake rice accounts for nearly 60% of raw material costs. Our efforts can’t do much to overcome the situation,” Hane said. The company plans to raise the prices of its products by at least 3-5% around this autumn.
In general, the grains of sake rice are larger than those of staple rice, and the stalks are taller. Since sake rice plants are more susceptible to the effects of wind and rain and require labor to cultivate, it has been traded at a higher price than staple rice.
According to the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry and others, staple rice produced from 2013 to 2023 was traded between sellers and buyers at prices ranging between ¥11,000 to below ¥15,000 per 60 kilograms, excluding tax. Over the same period, the price of Yamadanishiki, a popular sake rice variety grown in Hyogo Prefecture, ranges between ¥23,000 to ¥24,000 while the price of Gohyakumangoku rice from Niigata Prefecture was in the ¥16,000 range.
However, the price of staple rice has soared in 2024, and in March, the average price was ¥24,500 including tax. This has prompted many rice growers, who are in the midst of rice planting for the 2025 harvest, to switch from sake rice production to staple rice production.
An official of the Hyogo prefecture’s sake rice promotion association comprised of sake rice producers, said, “That farmers switch to staple rice is inevitable.” The price of sake rice is likely to surge due to the expected decrease in the production of sake rice.
According to the Tokyo-based Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association, the impact is already apparent. The price of sake rice purchased by sake breweries is often determined through negotiations between prefectural sake brewers’ associations and sake rice producers. “Sake brewers’ associations across the country are facing tough price negotiations,” said Takeshi Nagata, director of the association. “I am very concerned about the situation because the results of price negotiations could directly lead to a business crisis, especially for small and medium sake breweries.”
Prof. Yasuyuki Kishi, vice director of Niigata University’s Sakeology Center said: “As far as agricultural products are concerned, there are always unstable factors such as prices. It is important for sake brewers to cooperate with farmers and create a business strategy that enables competitive sake production.”