With the price of rice skyrocketing, sake breweries are being left high and dry, struggling to procure raw ingredients as farmers shift to growing rice varieties unsuitable for brewing.

Rice varieties used for cooking and eating have shot up in price, far surpassing the varieties used to make Japan’s famous rice wine.

In response, farmers are giving more space in their fields to growing the profitable staple crop, and less to its alcohol-producing cousins.

Brewery operators are already considering reducing or suspending production due to difficulties securing sake rice in the 2025 harvest season.

Calling for understanding on behalf of sake rice farmers, a representative of the sake rice promotion association in Hyogo Prefecture emphasized the tough circumstances facing the agricultural industry.

“Our hope is that brewing-variety rice will be purchased at the same price as ‘uruchimai’ rice (for consumption), so farmers will be able to continue growing sake rice as they have in the past,” said the association official.

Hyogo Prefecture is the main farming area of Yamada Nishiki rice, which is considered the finest rice variety for sake in western Japan.

Sake rice varieties are more difficult to grow than staple rice. Their yields per unit area are also lower, which has resulted in higher prices than rice varieties for eating—until recently.

Data compiled by the agriculture ministry shows that a 60-kilogram bag of Yamada Nishiki rice cost around 24,000 yen ($159) before tax during the 2013-2023 harvest seasons, well above the 11,000 yen to 14,000 yen for staple food rice.

The Gohyakumangoku species, which originates from Niigata Prefecture and is described as the top-quality sake rice in eastern Japan, was valued at around 16,000 yen, excluding tax, during the same period.

Over that time, staple rice prices never exceeded those for sake-brewing variants and were sometimes less than half the price.

That all changed during the latest supply shortage of staple rice, which caused the price to skyrocket.

The price of staple rice harvested in 2024 hit a record high of 24,006 yen before tax, or 25,927 yen after tax, in January 2025. The figure further rose in February to 24,523 yen and 26,485 yen before and after tax, respectively.

These figures are higher than the average trade value of 23,655 yen for Yamada Nishiki, the most expensive sake rice variety, for the 2013-2023 period.

Prices show no sign of dropping, even after the central government decided to release staple food rice from its emergency reserves into the market.

GLOBAL EXPANSION UNDERMINED

The sake brewing industry gained international attention when “traditional knowledge and skills of sake-making” was added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2024.

However, the impending shortage in sake rice is dealing a massive blow to breweries that are trying to expand overseas.

A representative of major brewer Kizakura Co., in Kyoto’s Fushimi Ward, acknowledged that the company may scale down or halt production of some products this year.

“Farmers in many areas are shifting from growing sake rice to staple rice in the 2025 season,” said the representative. “We’re concerned about whether we can even procure the necessary amount of ingredients, given the reduction in paddies growing sake rice.”

Statistics from the agriculture ministry last year estimated that demand for sake rice in the 2025 season would be between 82,000 tons and 84,000 tons—slightly above the 81,000-83,000 tons for the previous year.

The increase in demand is believed to be attributed to the global popularity of rice wine. The price for sake rice is therefore predicted to shoot up.

However, a representative from Gekkeikan Sake Co., another leading brewer in Kyoto’s Fushimi Ward, stressed the challenge for brewers to pass higher ingredient costs on to the final product price.

“Because sake is a luxury item, higher prices would just deter consumers from buying rice wine,” said the Gekkeikan official. “All we can do is patiently ask farmers to keep on growing sake rice as before.”

Hakkaisan Brewery Co., based in Minami-Uonuma, Niigata Prefecture, which is particularly famed for its namesake bottle, also expressed concerns.

“Fewer paddies could be allotted to rice wine species, which are cheaper than staple rice now,” said a Hakkaisan Brewery representative, suggesting that the corporation may soon struggle to acquire the required volume of ingredients.

SUPPORT FROM LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

Local governments have launched programs to assist struggling breweries.

Ehime Prefecture earmarked 23.62 million yen in its initial 2025 budget to support breweries by subsidizing 10 percent of the cost of purchasing sake rice.

The price of sake rice variants from the prefecture in 2024 are said to have risen 18 percent for the Matsuyama Mii variety and 14 percent for the Shizukuhime variety from the year before, compelling some brewers to reduce production.

Yamagata Prefecture also included 40.1 million yen in its February supplementary budget. It plans to subsidize half of the price increases of four sake rice varieties grown in Yamagata, such as Yukimegami and Dewa no Sato, for the prefecture’s 49 breweries.

“We will make thorough efforts to support the cultivation of sake rice as well as the brewing of fine sake,” said an official from the prefecture’s department to promote local products and trade.