Could Japan's rice crisis be easing?
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Could Japan's rice crisis be easing? Live from the UK, this is the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Nick Kureishi in for Leanna Byrne.

First, some good news for consumers of rice in Japan. The price of a five kilogram bag has dipped to its lowest level in two months. The country's National Supermarket Association says the shortage seems to be easing. BBC's business correspondent Katie Silver says that for a country that eats as much rice as Japan, the high price has been tough for consumers.

It was so contentious, saw one minister having to step down after he mentioned getting free rice from constituents. So to give you an idea, prices of the five kilo bag, they've dipped below 4,000 yen to 3,900 yen, or that's about 27 US dollars. It's the first time we've seen it below the 4,000 yen mark since early March. Prices still elevated, in fact, about double what they were two years ago. Now, it's

come about in part because of a target set by the Prime Minister, Shigeru Ueshiba. He is reported to have said that he wants to see prices around the 3,000 yen mark and that 4,000 quote-unquote can't be right. He also said that he was going to take personal responsibility for the matter.

And to give you an idea, we saw them rising sharply in the back half of last year. There was poor harvests in 2023. There was outsized demand from tourists. The yen was very low, which made Japan a very popular destination, normally a very expensive place to visit. And as a result of that, a lot of people in this region going on holidays in Japan, buying up

more of the rice. And we saw the price rise acceleration even further for the first half of this year. And it also, because of that low yen, it made it more expensive to buy rice from abroad. Now we have seen the prices significantly increase, more than doubling, for example, in May, the largest increase in over half a century. Katie Silver there.

Let's go to China, where business leaders are gathered for the country's annual economic forum known as the Summer Davos. Looming large, the expiry of a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs from the United States on goods from most of the world. They're due to come in just under two weeks' time on July 9th. BBC's Asia business correspondent Suranjana Tiwari is there and reflects on just how much uncertainty President Trump's tariffs have created.

He promised when he announced them back in April, 90 deals in 90 days and a complete reshaping of the global economic order. Instead, we've had just one trade deal and a whole lot of uncertainty.

For more on this, I have been speaking to the head of Greater China for DHL Global Forwarding and I asked her how businesses have been dealing with this uncertainty so far. You see different customers adopting different strategies. Most organisations have lived through the tariffs the first time around and have already created scenarios where they have alternative sourcing and manufacturing options.

And everyone's worked out scenarios and solutions now. People are fairly optimistic. Aditi Raskina from DHL Global forwarding there. There's been a lot of discussions at this forum, but of course the tariff deadline does loom large and businesses are waiting to see what happens going forward. Surinjana Tiwari. Right, let's do some numbers. ♪

Defence contractors have seen their share prices climb after NATO members pledged to spend 5% on defence by 2035. European shares have edged higher, aided by signs that the Israel-Iran ceasefire appeared to be holding.

And the chip manufacturer NVIDIA has once again become the most valuable company in the world. It's now worth $3.76 trillion more than Apple or Microsoft. Now, Zimbabwe has moved forward with compensation payments to white farmers whose land was seized during the controversial land reform programme that started more than 20 years ago.

The deal has revived hopes of a final settlement. BBC's Shingai Nyoka reports from the Zimbabwean capital, Harare. Former farmers arrive for a meeting in the capital. They are elderly, some are using walking sticks and crutches. They are among the 300 people who have agreed to accept the government's recent offer of compensation for white-owned farms seized as far back as the year 2000.

Although the offer could have been better, I decided that it was reasonably fair. Mounting medical bills and a sense of pragmatism prompted 71-year-old Arthur Baisley to accept the compromise deal. We now have to accept what's going to happen in the future. I know it's difficult for us. I believe this is the only opportunity. We can't wait another 10 years for another deal. But not all former farmers are on board.

Dion Taron is rummaging through boxes stacked on his veranda since 2008 when he was ejected from his dairy farm. It's a computer.

He leads over a thousand farmers who have rejected the government offer of 10-year bonds and yearly interest payments. There's no guarantee that those government bonds will be honoured in any way either. There's no recourse if the government doesn't honour that agreement. It's a terrible deal. But what of the black farmers, the beneficiaries of the land reform programme?

South of the capital, 25-year-old Aaron Gagne is grading his tobacco crop.

The first years of farming were a struggle for his family. But from ploughing in every spare cent and profit, they've grown into a successful enterprise. Yeah, I'm very happy. I think we have taken farming to another level. Now we are living a good life through farming. We are doing more than what the white guys were doing. He believes new farmers should contribute to compensation payments, but based on the value of the infrastructure they inherited.

25 years on, calm has returned to Zimbabwe's rolling farmlands. And while there's some progress, compromise will be needed on all sides in order for the country to overcome this longstanding wrangle over its land. Shingai Nyoke in Harare.

Finally, North Korea is opening a beach resort that its leader Kim Jong-un hopes will boost tourism in the country. Wonsan Kalma on the east coast boasts a four-kilometre sandy beach and hotel for around 20,000 guests. The resort will open to domestic tourists on the 1st of July. Thanks for listening to the Marketplace Morning Report. I'm Nick Creasy.

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