Chinese consumers turn to pricey Japanese rice

Shanghai

FIRST it was European infant formula, then New Zealand milk. Now Chinese consumers are adding Japanese rice to the list of everyday foods they will bring in from abroad at luxury-good prices because they fear the local alternatives aren't safe.

The volume of rice imported from Japan remains small - 160 tonnes last year, according to Japan's National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations.

But that is more than triple the total in 2013, a trend that illustrates Chinese…