Japanese consumers have historically steered clear of foreign rice. But facing high prices, they rushed last week to buy the first South Korean imports to Japan in decades, clearing the shelves within days, South Korean officials said.
It was a relatively small amount, a little over two tons, compared with Japan’s overall shortage, but it was a big change from the country’s last rice crisis, in 1993. Then, rice imported from places like Thailand, a top rice exporter, languished unsold in stores.
“Japanese rice itself is so delicious that people haven’t had the confidence to eat foreign rice,” said Park Jaehyun, a South Korean rice sommelier who is certified in Japan. “Now they know: The quality of rice is also quite good in South Korea.”
Because of Japan’s 200,000-ton shortage of rice, its staple grain, the government has tapped its emergency reserves. Still, prices have remained high, double last year’s.
That has spread appreciation for a variety of foreign rice. South Korea’s National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, which exported the rice, said it had not sold rice to Japan for at least 35 years.
South Korea’s rice has an advantage over some other countries’ product. Like Japanese rice, it belongs to the short-grain japonica variety and offers a sticky texture prized in East Asian cuisine. In contrast, indica rice — which is generally grown in warmer climates, including Thailand — is long grain and less sticky.
“It has less aroma and is less sweet than Japanese rice,” Takashi Kobayashi, a rice sommelier and retailer in Tokyo, said of South Korean rice. But when he compared California, Thai and Taiwanese rice, “Korean rice was closest to Japanese rice.”
Mr. Park, the South Korean sommelier, said that South Korean rice had a mix of “soft and chewy with a bit of fluffiness” familiar to Japanese consumers.
Some Japanese visitors to South Korea are taking their own rice souvenirs home with them. On Thursday, a constant trickle of Japanese-speaking travelers visited the rice section of a supermarket popular with tourists at Seoul’s central train station.
A group of three women from Japan said they had considered buying bags of rice weighing more than 40 pounds until they realized they would need to get through customs, which they feared would be cumbersome.
At a supermarket in Tokyo on Friday, Korean rice offered for about 25 percent less than Japanese rice was sold out. Signs in the store announced it would be back in stock on May 3.
The rice being exported to Japan was cultivated in Haenam County, one of South Korea’s top rice producers. Officials in the county, near the southern coast, were elated at how popular it was.
“We didn’t realize our rice would sell so quickly,” said Lee Yun-heui, the manager of the county government’s rice department. “We’re happy that it’s well received and awareness is growing.”
She said the county had shipped an initial 2.2 tons in late March, which sold out within a week of reaching Japanese consumers this month. An additional 22 tons are scheduled to follow in the next month. Now, the county is in talks to export 330 more tons, she said, adding that a neighboring county was also planning to export to Japan.
That amount is still a small fraction of the 7,000 tons of rice South Korea exports to other countries each year, mainly for the Korean diaspora. The country produces more than four million tons a year.
The exports might not keep increasing. Han-ho Kim, a professor of agricultural trade at Seoul National University, suggested that the price jump in Japan was driving the popularity of South Korean rice. The distribution from the Japanese government’s rice reserves should lower prices in about two months, according to Mr. Kobayashi, the Japanese sommelier and retailer.
For the South Korean growers, exporting to Japan isn’t particularly profitable, largely because of shipping costs and Japan’s tariffs.
Ms. Lee, the county official, said the cooperative profited 3 to 6 cents per pound in exporting surplus rice it had purchased from farmers. Farmers profit as much as 95 cents for the same amount sold domestically, she said.
“The price of Japanese rice needs to increase even more for the export to be sustainable,” said Na Dae-hwan, the president of the Korea Rice Trading Association.
One shopper at the supermarket in Seoul on Thursday had a professional interest in the rice. Shinko Kawamura, a rice farmer from northern Japan, studied the varieties on the shelves even though he didn’t need to purchase any. He said he was concerned for his fellow farmers back home.
“I just hope Japanese consumers can enjoy Japanese rice for a reasonable price again,” he said.
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