HOKKAIDO, Jun 19 (News On Japan) –
Rice costs stay excessive, and the results of the “Reiwa Rice Disaster” are being felt past simply the staple rice consumed in each day meals.
“A glass of ‘Kitano Nishiki,’ a sake brewed from Kuriyama-grown rice. You’ll be able to actually style the sweetness of the rice, and it is scrumptious.”
With the rising international demand for Japanese meals and, in December 2024, the registration of “conventional sake brewing” as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, Japanese sake is drawing worldwide consideration.
Nonetheless, sake breweries are going through the brunt of rising rice costs, as uncooked materials prices proceed to rise.
“The price of rice has elevated considerably, so now we have no alternative however to move the value enhance on to shoppers,” explains a sake brewery.
The value hikes are affecting sake rice producers as properly.
“If issues proceed this manner, we might even see a discount within the space planted with sake rice and even the disappearance of sake rice farmers,” a sake rice farmer warns.
The “Reiwa Rice Disaster,” which appears to don’t have any finish in sight, has put sake makers in a troublesome place.
At Kobayashi Sake Brewery in Kuriyama City, Hokkaido, a brewery with a historical past relationship again to the Meiji interval, the hovering value of rice is having a major impression.
Kobayashi Sake Brewery’s Director, Kobayashi Beishu, states, “If the retail value of sake will increase instantly, eating places and shoppers will discover it tougher to afford.”
Considerations are rising that the value will increase might result in a decline in sake consumption, with some shoppers turning away from sake because of larger costs. To handle the rising price of uncooked supplies, Kobayashi Sake Brewery can also be engaged on refining its rice milling course of to enhance effectivity.
“We’re experimenting with ‘flat milling,’ which goals to cut back extreme sprucing of the rice whereas sustaining a excessive yield, anticipating to supply higher sake,” Kobayashi explains.
Much like the value hikes seen in staple rice, the price of sake rice, the important thing ingredient in Japanese sake, has additionally surged.
Hokuren, which handles practically all sake rice manufacturing in Hokkaido, units its gross sales costs by consulting with sake breweries nationwide. The 2024 gross sales value for Hokkaido-produced sake rice is 15,550 yen per 60 kg.
In distinction, the 2024 transaction value for “uruchi rice” (staple rice) surged to 24,500 yen, greater than 9,000 yen larger than the earlier 12 months, surpassing the value of sake rice.
Within the city of Shin-Totsukawa, Hokkaido, which boasts the biggest sake rice manufacturing space within the prefecture, some farmers have already began shifting away from sake rice farming.
“The monetary returns are larger from rising uruchi rice,” says Kawamura Noboru, Deputy Head of the Pinne Sake Rice Producers Affiliation. “Many farmers have stop producing sake rice.”
In Shin-Totsukawa, 15 farmers had been rising sake rice on about 148 hectares within the 2024 fiscal 12 months. Nonetheless, in 2025, this space is anticipated to shrink to simply 100 hectares.
“Rising sake rice is extra labor-intensive and sophisticated than uruchi rice. Naturally, farmers, as enterprise house owners, should not going to supply one thing that does not earn cash,” Kawamura notes.
In contrast to staple rice varieties like “Yume Pirika,” sake rice is tougher to domesticate, extra labor-intensive, and instructions a lower cost, making it much less interesting for farmers.
“If this continues, we might even see additional reductions within the space planted with sake rice and even the extinction of sake rice manufacturing,” Kawamura predicts. “Eliminating the value hole between sake rice and uruchi rice could be one of the best answer.”
Amid the continued “Reiwa Rice Disaster,” Hokkaido-produced sake rice has been gaining recognition, however the important thing problem stays discovering a value that each one stakeholders—shoppers, sake producers, and rice farmers—can settle for.
Kobayashi Beishu concludes, “Whereas prices are rising throughout the board, attempting to carry costs again right down to the unique ranges would not be helpful, even from a farmer’s perspective. The aim must be to settle at a good value, one that’s balanced and displays the present state of affairs. That is the necessary half in resolving the rice disaster.”
Supply: HBCニュース 北海道放送
