Japan Import Rice 2026 Market Overview & Trends

Japan's rice import market reached a five-year volume peak in 2024, with total quantity hitting 754,475,960 units. While the import value decreased to $626.7 million from its 2023 high, the long-term trend shows a steady increase in volume since 2021. This suggests a strategic shift toward higher-volume procurement despite fluctuations in global market pricing.

The United States dominates the Japanese rice import landscape, contributing $337.5 million in 2024. Thailand maintains a strong second position with $216.4 million in export value. Combined, these two nations represent the bulk of the market, significantly outperforming other suppliers like Australia, China, and India in terms of total trade value.

Vietnam is the leading emerging partner, showing a remarkable 8.30% growth rate in 2024. Other significant growth is seen from Other Asia (4.63%) and Italy (1.06%). While traditional partners remain stable, Vietnam's rapid acceleration highlights its increasing competitiveness and strategic importance in Japan's diversifying rice supply chain.

Product demand is highly concentrated in ir 64 rice (HS 100630), which accounted for $613.4 million in 2024. This variety far exceeds the value of broken rice ($9.7M) and husked brown rice ($3.5M). The data underscores a clear Japanese market preference for specific processed rice varieties over secondary rice products.