Rice is piling up in Japan's co-op warehouses, two years after a shortage set off panic buying. At JA Aichi Chuo, a warehouse in Aichi Prefecture holds about 1,500 tons of brown rice, and the operator says the whole facility holds around 10,000 tons.
The warehouse stores rice from five cities, including Anjo and Kariya, and takes in more of the prefecture's harvest than any other site. This year's new crop is arriving while rice from last year's harvest is still in store.
"It's not so much that it's surplus — sales of last year's rice are behind schedule, and a lot of this year's rice is coming into the co-op," said Toyohisa Inagaki, head of the farming division at JA Aichi Chuo. "We've never had warehouse conditions this tight. There's still last year's rice here and the new crop is coming in, so there's hardly any free space."
Private buyers stepped back this year
Private collectors bought heavily from farmers last year, paying more than the advance payment the JA group offered, Inagaki said. This year they have largely stayed away from farms, so the co-op is taking in more.
Before the 2024 shortage, JA Aichi Chuo collected just under 70% of the rice harvested in its five cities. That fell to about 60% in 2025. This year it expects just over 70%, the highest share it has recorded.
The harvest itself came in relatively large, and output is running above expectations, Inagaki said. "We want to make every effort to sell Aichi rice so people eat it."
A farmer's view: 'This is a rice panic too'
Hiroki Inagaki, a farmer in Anjo, said in February that traders he had never dealt with had approached him, offering slightly more than the co-op's advance payment. On November 4 he said the problem had moved to the other end.
“There are no pallets to ship on. I've never heard of there being no warehouse space. This has become serious. Last year was a rice panic, and this year is a rice panic too.”Hiroki Inagaki, farmer in Anjo
The swing follows a shortage that began in the summer of 2024 and sent prices up. Farmers who sold to private buyers then are now delivering to the co-op, which is left holding a backlog as the next harvest arrives.