Japan’s private companies imported 10,607 tonnes of table rice in May, the first time monthly volumes have topped 10,000 tonnes and about 125 times the average level recorded last year, Finance Ministry trade data show. The surge comes despite a ¥341-per-kilogram tariff on off-quota shipments. With domestic rice prices still elevated, imported grain is proving cheaper, particularly for convenience-store meals, bento producers and household consumption. Roughly 70% of May cargoes originated in the United States, highlighting a shift away from the long-grain varieties traditionally sourced from Southeast Asia. The jump caps a rapid escalation in private imports: annual volumes hovered between 600 and 800 tonnes for years, but rose to 3,011 tonnes in fiscal 2024. Shipments in the first five months of 2025 have already reached 19,628 tonnes, outstripping full-year totals and suggesting further growth. Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi warned that leaving domestic prices unchecked could "further accelerate" foreign purchases, and signalled that the government would keep price-stabilisation measures in place alongside its separate, duty-free minimum-access rice programme of about 770,000 tonnes a year.