Japan: Rice Trading Halted Due To Radiation Contamination

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2011-08-18

Richard Moore

Fears of food riots strike Japan after rice trading is halted due to a 40% price spike triggered by massive hoarding of the remaining radiation free rice supply.

It is time to start paying very close attention the events unfolding in Japan as the nation teeters on the verge of food riots which may serve as an example of what other nations in a similar situation would face.
As we approach the 5 month marker since the onset of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan has repeatedly assured the public that the nation’s food supply was safe from radiation. Japan has given those reassurances despite warnings from experts that the nuclear fallout has already surpassed 20 Hiroshima bombs with no end in site and experts say ‘off-scale’ levels of lethal radiation at Fukushima infer millions dying.
Time and again those assurances have proven to be false. Radiation has been found in everything from soil and sewage to teaand beef. Even worse, a just released report revealed that Japan ran simulations back as far as 1984 which showed 18,000 deaths from acute radiation exposure and a 55 mile radius would be rendered permanently uninhabitable. All of these factors have entirely destroyed the public’s trust in their government.
In an attempt to regain the public’s trust, Japan just announced hours ago that they will no longer offer any assurances of the safety of the nation’s food supply.

Japan to refrain from claiming safety of Japanese foods

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto has instructed his ministry to refrain from claiming the safety of Japanese foods, changing its stance after radiation-contamination beef was found to have been sold to consumers in Japan, sources close to the matter said Sunday.
The change is due to discoveries of radiation-contaminated meat from cattle fed rice straw laden with radioactive cesium spewed from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
[…]
Source: Kyodo News

Unfortunately for Japan, the damage has already been.
Despite the repeated lies and attempts to brainwash the public though propaganda, Japanese citizens have finally come to the realization that the nation’s food supply is tainted with radiation from the Fukushima nuclear fallout.
That has lead citizens of Japan to begin hoarding last years rice supply, according to a report from Kyodo News.

Japan:Last year’s rice being hoarded over radiation contamination worries

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Consumers are beginning to hoard last year’s rice as their dietary staple over concerns that freshly harvested rice may be contaminated with radioactive materials released from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, retailers said Friday.
The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry is working to establish a system for ensuring the safety of rice ahead of the harvest season in autumn, with plans to inspect the crop in two stages.
The buying spree, however, indicates deep public distrust of the government’s handling of food safety issues in the wake of the nuclear crisis following a scare over contaminated beef.
A rice seller in Tokyo’s Nerima Ward said regular customers began asking it to keep rice on stock just around the time the ministry disclosed its rice inspection plans on Wednesday.
A supermarket in Koto Ward, also Tokyo, said rice is selling at twice the normal pace at the outlet, while various rice brands were mostly sold out at a nearby shopping center.
[…]
Source:  Kyodo News
To alleviate the hoarding of the rice supply, Japan announced plan to sell rice on the futures market for the first time since World War 2, according to a Bloomberg report.

Rice Futures Halted in Tokyo as Radiation Weighs On First Trades Since ’39

(Bloomberg) Rice futures in Tokyo surged in their first appearance on the bourse since 1939, triggering a suspension of trade, on concern radiation from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant may spread to crops and curb supply.
[…]
The exchange listed rice contracts today for the first time since the start of World War II to boost flagging volumes and profit. The resumption comes as fallout from the Fukushima Dai- Ichi power plant may spread after it was found cattle had been fed cesium-tainted rice straw. Spinach, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, tea, milk, plums and fish have been found to be contaminated with cesium and iodine as far as 360 kilometers (224 miles) from the station operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co.
“People are very concerned that rice supplies may be smaller on fear of radiation contamination,” Nobuyuki Chino, chairman of the exchange’s rice futures trading committee, told reporters in Tokyo. “This was reflected in the prices,” said Chino, who is also president of Tokyo-based grain company Continental Rice Corp.
[…]Consumers are starting to hoard rice from last year because of radiation fears, Kyodo Newsreported on Aug. 5. An expansion of the bourse’s daily limit may cause excessive speculation, prompting farmers to complain about prices, Saito said.
[…]Faced with criticism from consumer groups and opposition party politicians that lax government control has endangered food safety, the ministry has tightened rice screening before the harvest begins in eastern Japan.
The government ordered Fukushima and 13 nearby prefectures to test rice samples before the harvest. Authorities will ban shipments from areas where they find grains containing cesium exceeding 500 becquerels a kilogram. Rice production in Fukushima and neighboring Ibaraki, Miyagi and Iwate prefectures amounted to 1.56 million metric tons last year, out of the country’s total of 8.5 million tons.
[…]
Source: Bloomberg