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TOKYO

The “World’s Highest Quality Rice,” which Toyo Rice Corporation (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo, President: Keiji Saika) made publicly available for the first time through its online shopping site ^(*2) for five days between June 29^th and July 3^rd, 2016, is listed in Guinness World Records as the world’s most expensive rice. The rice was sold in units of six packages x 140 g for 10,800 yen (including consumption tax and postage). All 30 boxes of the rice were sold as planned. The rice is certified and listed in Guinness World Records as priced at 11,304 yen/kg (109 U.S. dollars/kg) excluding consumption tax and postage.

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The World’s Highest Quality Rice (Photo: Business Wire)

Toyo Rice Corporation has advanced its “World’s Highest Quality Rice” business since last winter in order to improve the global perception of Japanese rice and provide “a dream and hope” to rice producers in Japan. Six varieties of rice were carefully selected from among 18 varieties of brown rice that were awarded gold prizes and certified as the world’s top quality rice in the International Category at the 17^th International Contest on Rice Taste Evaluation (hosted by the Association of the Certified Rice Appraisers) held in Komatsu City, Ishikawa Prefecture in November 2015. A total of 3,870 kg of the six varieties of rice were purchased from their producers at 1,900 yen/kg, approximately eight times the usual price for rice. Then approximately 2,000 kg of brown rice grains were selected for their superior vital energy to produce Kinmemai Rice, an ultra-high class rice, with improved taste and vital energy thanks to Toyo Rice’s unique aging, polishing, blending and rinse-free technologies. Regarding the stock of the World’s Highest Quality Rice, only amounts reserved by Yugyoan Tankuma Kitamise, a Japanese restaurant headquartered in Kyoto, and amounts reserved for export overseas are now available. Toyo Rice Corporation will continue to advance its “World’s Highest Quality Rice” business in order to proclaim the quality of Japanese rice and rice processing technologies worldwide.

If Japan joins the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPP), more inexpensive rice may be imported and rice cultivation in Japan may further decline. In order to address this problem, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries finalized the “Strategy for enhancing agriculture, forestry and fishery exports” in May, emphasizing special products such as Kinmemai Rice that may expand rice exports.

Kinmemai Rice at a glance looks like ordinary polished white rice but it is unpolished white rice which is milled and processed as rinse-free rice. Kinmemai Rice keeps the white sub-aleurone layer that is generally removed during the polishing process. Compared to polished white rice, Kinmemai Rice is superior in flavor, sweetness and nutritive value and it has approximately 5.9 times more lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a natural human immune system booster. While low calorie, low fat Japanese food has become popular overseas, Singapore’s department of health recently issued a warning not to eat polished white rice as it increases the risk of diabetes by excessively increasing blood-sugar levels in the body. This is why “beneficial rice” such as Kinmemai Rice is now attracting attention. With this in mind Toyo Rice Corporation also released “Kinmemai Dewaxed Brown Rice” which is easy to eat just like polished white rice because its water-resistant wax layer is evenly removed from the surface of the rice.

Under the concept that “medicine and food have the same origins,” Toyo Rice Corporation hopes to contribute to people’s health and reduce healthcare spending even if only by a little. This is why beneficial rice has been developed. Since beneficial rice has global competitive power, the company believes that it can become popular in other countries, contributing to the maintenance of good health everywhere. With the hope that people around the world, not just in Japan, enjoy good health, Toyo Rice Corporation will continue to develop products and enhance the value of Japanese rice.

*1 Guinness World Records® is a registered trade mark of Guinness World Records Limited.
*2 Kinmemai rice online shop: http://www.toyorice.jp/fs/toyorice/c/saikoumai

[Profile of Toyo Rice Corporation]

• Established: 1961
• Capital: 100 million yen
• Business details: Processing, production and distribution of Kinmemai Rice, Kinmemai Dewaxed Brown Rice and BG Rinse-Free Rice, and development, manufacturing and distribution of rice buffing machinery.
• Address of the Ginza headquarters: 5-10-13 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
• Phone number: +81-3-3572-7550
• Fax number: +81-3-3572-7551
• URL: http://www.toyo-rice.jp/

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