The drama where the Japanese Agricultural Co-op (JA) went back to walking on eggshells after the whole 'Go is me' incident was even posted here on the humor board. Naturally, rice prices reverted right back to pre-strategic reserve release levels. The result?
Obviously, it turned into toxic inventory. When the new harvest came out the following year, they couldn't sell it at the proper price, and retailers were stuckโthey couldn't buy it at a premium and then offer a discount. They were truly stuck between a rock and a hard place. Japanese rice prices hadn't changed much until now mainly because they were worried that Japanese people would reduce rice consumption, causing losses. Well, exactly what they worried about happened: rice consumption plummeted. The consequence of them thinking 'Eh, let's just hike the price up two times? Will they really stop eating it?' ended exactly as predicted.
"JA tried to hike the price and now they're stuck playing hot potato with mountains of toxic rice inventory. When greed meets the market, the market always wins."
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