Vegetables undergoing an unstable supply due to the effects of rain in August are seen in Minami Ward, Fukuoka, on Sept. 1, 2021. Some stores are putting out signs to inform customers of the shortages. (Mainichi/Minoru Kanazawa)

       FUKUOKA -- Record rainfall in mid-August has triggered a surge in prices of leafy and summer vegetables including cucumbers and eggplants grown in southwest Japan's Kyushu region.

       Until around July, vegetables prices were lower than in a normal year, but supply dropped following the heavy rains that fell for around a week, which caused poor yields and other problems. It appears the prices of some products will remain high for the time being.

       "The market supply is low, too. It's hard to get hold of products," a representative of a greengrocer in the city of Fukuoka's Minami Ward lamented on Sept. 1. Cucumbers that had until the start of August sold at the front of the shop for 78 yen (about $0.70) a pair were at one point fetching 298 yen (around $2.70) a pair.

       Competition from nearby supermarkets meant the store resolved to sell the produce at a loss, but even so, now two cucumbers sell for 198 yen (about $1.80). Goya bitter gourds grown in Oita Prefecture are selling for 298 yen each. A customer wore a concerned expression as she told the Mainichi Shimbun: "The number of items is lower than usual, too. If it stays expensive like this I'll be worried about household spending."

       The lack of sunlight caused by torrential rains, affecting cultivation among Kyushu-grown products, has had a huge effect on the poor vegetable market supply. Stocks of eggplants, cucumbers, and tomatoes grown in Kumamoto, Saga, Oita and Fukuoka prefectures are down to 50 to 70% of levels seen in a normal year. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' Kyushu Regional Agricultural Administration Office says it expects September wholesale prices of eight products including eggplants, tomatoes and green peppers to surpass August ones.

       But businesses including supermarkets are taking steps to try and limit price rises as much as possible. An official at supermarket chain Halloday, which is primarily based in Fukuoka Prefecture and headquartered in the prefectural city of Kitakyushu, told the Mainichi Shimbun, "We're changing where we get our produce supplies for vegetables whose stocks have fallen, which means our in-store prices are stable." A drop in demand from restaurants and other businesses during the pandemic had already resulted in lower wholesale prices.

       The official went on to say, "For the last five to six years, as a trend, summer vegetables from Kyushu have tended to rise in price." They said the climate has wavered between the extremes of torrential rain and intense heat, meaning it has become a harsh environment for growing produce.

       Heavy August rains flooded vinyl greenhouses at the Tanaka Noen farm in the Fukuoka Prefecture city of Kurume that cultivates leaf lettuce, destroying all seedlings. It was the fifth consecutive year of damage. The farm's owner Keisuke Tanaka told the Mainichi Shimbun, "I want consumers to not just pay attention to shifts in prices alone, but also pay attention to climate change issues causing agricultural damage."

       (Japanese original by Yuki Imano, Hiroshi Higa and Mayu Suenaga, Kyushu News Department)

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