Consumers in Japan may have to brace for higher rice prices for the autumn harvest. The country's largest group of rice collectors and wholesalers, the Japan Agricultural Co-operatives, are significantly raising their advance payments to farmers, a benchmark for setting the market price of the staple grain.



A cooperative in Niigata prefecture, Japan's top rice producing area, will increase its prepayment for the Koshihikari variety by 35 percent.



The payment will rise to 23,000 yen, or around 161 dollars per 60 kilograms. That is up by 6,000 yen, or 42 dollars from the amount set last year.



Sources say a cooperative in Akita prefecture, another major rice producing region, plans to increase the payment by 42 percent.



The figure for the Akitakomachi variety per 60 kilograms is expected to increase to 24,000 yen, or about 168 dollars, up by 7,200 yen, or around 50 dollars.



Cooperatives are presenting the advance payment figures earlier than usual, before the planting season, apparently to encourage farmers to offer their autumn crop to the cooperatives, instead of to other buyers.