Rice prices have continued to climb at supermarkets across Japan despite the arrival of recently released national stockpiles on store shelves.



The agriculture ministry says the average price for a 5-kilogram bag of rice was 4,206 yen including tax, or over 28 dollars, for the week through March 30. That number is based on a ministry's weekly survey of about 1,000 supermarkets.



The price extended the upward price trend for the 13th straight week.



The latest weekly disclosure on Monday comes after rice which was released from national stockpiles, and sold at auctions, showed up on store shelves from the end of March.



Ministry officials say the proportion of government-stockpiled rice in the markets is small during the latest survey.



Rice prices have more than doubled from a year earlier, while sales diminished by 3.1 percent from that of a year ago.



Chief researcher at the Distribution Economics Institute of Japan, Orikasa Shunsuke who is an expert on rice distribution, suggested rice is very much in short supply basically, and the amount released from stockpiles was not enough to fulfil the demand.



He said the prices remain high because the whole industry is feeling that rice supplies are still insufficient.
He added retail prices will likely remain at the current level or drop a little, as it is the time of year when rice stocks are normally in short supply until new harvests begin to circulate.