Rice prices are still climbing at supermarkets in Japan and have almost doubled from a year earlier. That's even after the government announced it would release emergency reserves to stabilize distribution.



The agriculture ministry says the average price for a 5-kilogram bag of rice was 4,077 yen, roughly 27 dollars, for the week through March 9 at about 1,000 supermarkets nationwide.



That's up 99.3 percent year-on-year, and a 3.2 percent increase from the previous seven-day period, marking a 10th straight weekly rise.



Sales volume fell 11.6 percent from a year ago.



The ministry put national stockpiles up for auction last week and 141,796 tons drew bids by wholesalers.



The stockpile rice is expected to start showing up on store shelves across Japan late this month.