Katagami, Akita, Backs Sake Breweries With Subsidy as Brewing Rice Prices Soar
Katagami City in Akita Prefecture has passed a supplementary budget with a subsidy for sake brewers struggling with rising rice prices, showing that rice costs are now a challenge for sake making.
Support for the “rice bill” approved by the city council
Akita Prefecture is a rice-growing region on the Sea of Japan side of northern Honshu, and Katagami City lies just north of the prefectural capital, Akita City. On 25 June 2026, the Katagami City Council held a plenary session and passed 12 items, including the supplementary budget bill for the 2026 general account. The supplementary budget includes a “subsidy to support sake brewers facing rising prices”. According to press reports, the city will subsidise the portion of brewers’ rice purchasing costs that has risen. The total amount of the subsidy, the number of eligible breweries and the cap per company have not been made clear in publicly available reports.
Rice sets the cost of sake
Sake is made from rice, water, koji and yeast, and rice is its main ingredient. For the higher grades such as ginjo and daiginjo (known as tokutei meisho-shu, or “special designation sake”), the outer layers of each rice grain are polished away and only the core is used. The proportion that remains after polishing is called the “seimaibuai” (rice polishing ratio); a ratio of 50% means half of the original grain has been milled away. The more a grain is polished, the fewer off-flavours there tend to be and the more fragrant the sake, but more rice is needed to make the same quantity. This means that when rice prices rise, the labour-intensive premium sakes are the most exposed. This subsidy is one example of a local authority stepping in to help, rather than leaving the higher costs to the brewers alone.
How this reaches glasses in Europe
Higher brewing rice costs may, in time, also show up in export prices. Whether to keep price rises small, or to review the polishing ratio or the rice used, is likely to be decided brewery by brewery.
When choosing sake in Europe, take a look at the polishing ratio and the rice variety stated on the back label. The price gap between a junmai and a daiginjo from the same brewery is largely down to how much of the rice has been polished away. For everyday meals, a junmai with a polishing ratio of around 60 to 70% is an easy choice to reach for. Knowing the story of rice prices behind a bottle may change how you see its price tag a little.
Sources
This article was written by The Sake Wire editorial team, summarising the public sources listed above. Images are our own.
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