Japan report: matcha tea shortage claimed

Pravda Japan reported on May 19 that Japan had announced a shortage of matcha tea to meet global demand. The claim is difficult to verify from mainstream Japanese government or major domestic media reporting published the same day, while other Japan supply stories circulating on May 19 focused on a different shortage entirely: naphtha, a petroleum-derived industrial feedstock. Reuters, in a July 4, 2025 report carried by The Asahi Shimbun, had already documented a real squeeze in Japan’s matcha supply. That report said record heat had damaged tea bushes, reduced yields in the April-May harvest, and pushed tencha prices in Kyoto to 8,235 yen per kilogram in May 2025, up 170% from a year earlier. ### Did Japan officially announce a matcha shortage on May 19? Pravda Japan said on May 19 that Japan had announced a shortage of matcha tea to meet global demand. (japan.news-pravda.com) In the material available for this review, however, no ministry statement, cabinet announcement or major Japanese newspaper report was found confirming an official government declaration on that date. The absence matters because the phrasing “Japan has announced” suggests a formal state statement. (asahi.com) The available corroboration instead supports a broader market reality — tight matcha supply in Japan — rather than a verified May 19 government announcement. ### What evidence is there that matcha supply has been under strain? Reuters reported on July 4, 2025 that farmers and industry officials in Japan were already describing strained supplies and record prices. (japan.news-pravda.com) The report said Kyoto, which accounts for about a quarter of Japan’s tencha production, had been hit by severe heatwaves during Japan’s hottest year on record, weakening yields in the following harvest. (asahi.com) Masahiro Yoshida, a sixth-generation farmer in Uji, told Reuters he harvested 1.5 tons of tencha, down from his usual 2 tons. The Japanese Tea Production Association said Japan produced 5,336 tons of tencha in 2024, nearly 2.7 times the level of a decade earlier, but expected lower matcha output in 2025. ### Why would demand be outrunning supply? Japan’s green tea exports, including matcha, rose 25% by value to 36.4 billion yen in 2024, according to data cited by Reuters from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. (asahi.com) By volume, exports rose 16%, with powdered teas such as matcha driving much of the increase. Yuki Ishii, founder of Singapore-based Tealife, told Reuters that customer demand for matcha grew ten-fold last year and was still rising even as supply from Japan declined. (asahi.com) Marc Falzon of New Jersey-based milling firm Ooika told Reuters that new tea fields would not quickly solve shortages because newly planted fields need five years before harvest. ### Why are so many May 19 reports about naphtha instead? (asahi.com) The Japan News reported on May 19 that distribution bottlenecks for naphtha-derived products were being driven by a surge in orders from businesses worried about supply shortages. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said supplies of naphtha-derived chemical products could be maintained beyond the turn of the year, according to that report. (asahi.com) The same article said Japan needs about 2.8 million kiloliters of naphtha a month and that officials were conducting a fact-finding survey on distribution routes. That helps explain why same-day supply coverage from Japan was dominated by industrial materials rather than tea. ### So what can be said with confidence now? May 19 coverage supports two separate points. (japannews.yomiuri.co.jp) Pravda Japan published a matcha-shortage claim that day, but the best independently verifiable reporting available points to an ongoing market squeeze documented earlier by Reuters, not a clearly confirmed fresh state announcement. The next concrete place to look is official Japanese agriculture trade data or statements from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, alongside any follow-up from major Japanese outlets such as Yomiuri, Asahi or Kyodo after May 19. (japannews.yomiuri.co.jp) (asahi.com) (japan.news-pravda.com)