Last weekend, bags of rice disappeared from supermarkets. Newly harvested rice might be more than 20% more expensive than last year.
Rice has disappeared from the rice section of the local supermarket. It finally arrived at the beginning of the week, so I was able to buy some. According to my wife, in the hot summer months, rice quickly loses its flavor, so she buys 2kg of rice. The next day, the bags of rice had disappeared from the supermarket. It must have sold out a short time after it arrived. Last week was the Obon period, so perhaps rice mills were closed, and many customers were stocking up on rice.
It reminded me of the rice shortage that occurred from 1993 to 1994. However, the new rice will be shipped soon, so it seems that there will not be a long-term rice shortage like that. I guess we won't have to eat imported foreign rice.
Fortunately, this year's rice crop looks to be better than last year's.
However, the price of new rice will rise significantly.
This month, the prices of dorayaki, chocolate, coffee jelly, and other items have risen by around 10 to 20 yen.
While it is possible to avoid buying such luxury items, the impact on pensioners is large, as they eat rice every day.
My household consumes 2 kg of rice per week. Over four weeks, it comes to 1,300 yen x 4 = 5,200 yen. If this were to rise by 40%, the expenditure would be 7,280 yen, an increase of 2,080 yen. However, 7,280 yen divided by 28 comes to 260 yen per day, which seems reasonable for the price of a staple food.