Japan pushes rice as solution to food fears

By Isabel Reynolds - Analysis

TOKYO (Reuters) - In the face of the soaring rice prices sparking protests and riots around the world, Japan's advice to its people is simple: eat more rice.

That seemingly topsy-turvy message is evidence of the near-complete isolation of the rice market in a country that grows more than it needs and protects farmers from cheap imports.

While international prices have almost trebled this year, Japan's domestic rice prices are steady, though still more than three times the price of Thai rice.

Raising rice consumption would help boost the percentage of Japan's food produced at home. That figure has dwindled to 39 percent, the lowest among the major industrialized countries, reviving the government's food security fears.

"Since we don't know when food supplies from abroad might dry up, it is important to produce a certain amount domestically," said Hiroyuki Suematsu, director of a new division set up at the agriculture ministry this month to promote Japanese produce.

"The main reason why Japan's self-sufficiency rate has fallen is that people eat much less rice," Suematsu added. "In the past they ate an average of 120 kg (265 pounds) a year, but it's now only 60 kg."

A switch from wheat to rice could eventually weigh on international grain prices, because Japan is the world's fourth biggest wheat importer, with plans to import nearly 5 million metric tons this fiscal year.

WHEAT SUBSTITUTE