Japan Matcha Harvest Report 2026: Uji, Kagoshima, Shizuoka & Yame
The matcha harvest 2026 tells one clear story: demand is running well ahead of supply, so Japan’s first-flush (ichibancha) tencha came in early and at record prices across every major origin. The season opened in the warm south — Kagoshima — and moved north through Shizuoka, Kyoto (Uji) and Fukuoka (Yame) as spring warmed, and first-flush tencha auction prices roughly doubled year on year. This annual report reads the 2026 crop region by region so a buyer can plan the rest of the year around it.
It is written for importers, distributors, OEM and health or wellness manufacturers buying at hundreds of kilograms a month. Prices below are attributed market figures, not a JMEX price list — confirm the current quote per shipment.
Key Takeaways
- Early, healthy crop, tight supply: the 2026 first flush came in early and strong, but demand outpaced it, keeping the matcha shortage in place.
- Record first-flush prices: first-flush tencha auction prices ran roughly 1.7–1.8× the prior year at the Kagoshima and Kyoto markets (data and sources below).
- Four origins, four profiles: Kagoshima leads on volume and mechanised scale, Uji on hand-picked premium, Shizuoka is converting to tencha, and Yame stays small and high-grade.
- Harvest sets the ceiling: only shaded, steamed, unrolled leaf (tencha) becomes matcha, so the harvest sets quality and cost before any milling.
- Lock in grade, origin and volume early for 2026, and verify each supplier against a written specification rather than colour alone.
Researched and reviewed by the Matcha Times Editorial Team, operated by the Japan Matcha Export Organization (JMEX). Last reviewed: September 20, 2026. See our Editorial Policy and Sources & Methodology. Found an error? Tell us.
What does the 2026 matcha harvest mean for buyers?
In short, the 2026 matcha harvest produced a good-quality first flush that still could not catch up with global demand. Growers reported an early, healthy ichibancha, yet first-flush tencha still cleared at record auction prices at Japan’s main tea markets, because the raw material for matcha — tencha — remains in structural short supply. For a B2B buyer that means firmer prices, tighter allocation and longer lead times through the year, so ordering earlier and specifying grade precisely matter more than usual.
The practical takeaway is that 2026 is a planning year, not a spot-buying year. The rest of this report walks how the harvest works, reads the crop across Uji, Kagoshima, Shizuoka and Yame, sets out the market data with sources, and turns it into questions you can ask any supplier.
For Companies Seeking Matcha Powder
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How the Japanese matcha harvest works, region by region
Matcha does not come straight off the bush. The harvest is a short, weather-driven window that fixes most of the quality before any powder is milled, and each of Japan’s four defining origins plays a different role in it. Understanding the sequence explains why 2026’s numbers look the way they do.
The first flush and how tencha is made
For matcha, tea rows are shaded for roughly three to four weeks before the first spring harvest. Shading slows photosynthesis, which raises chlorophyll and amino acids while lowering bitterness and builds the umami and vivid green that define matcha. The shaded leaf is picked, steamed almost immediately to lock in colour, then dried without rolling into tencha — the flaky, de-veined leaf that is later ground into matcha. Ordinary rolled leaf (sencha) is not used, so the shaded first flush is the true matcha crop.
Because shading is labour-intensive and the window is narrow, first-flush tencha sets both the ceiling on quality and much of the cost. The harvest sweeps from Japan’s warm south to its cooler regions over several weeks each spring, which is why Kagoshima trades first and Uji later.
Kagoshima: scale, mechanisation and the early crop
Kagoshima, in the far south, harvests earliest and at the largest mechanised scale. The Global Japanese Tea Association reports it producing around 2,150 tonnes of tencha in 2024, about 40% of the national tencha total, and ranking as Japan’s top tea producer since 2020 (Global Japanese Tea Association, Japanese Tea Report, May 2026). In 2026 its first-flush tencha averaged roughly ¥19,000 per kilogram at the prefectural tea market — about 1.8 times the prior year — as more factories joined the shade-grown trade.
Uji (Kyoto): hand-picked premium and frost risk
Uji is the historic ceremonial heartland, prized for hand-picked, top-grade tencha and the finest gogumi blending. It is also the most frost-sensitive origin, and a spring cold snap can cut the premium crop sharply. At the Kyoto tencha market in 2026, machine-picked tencha averaged about ¥13,972 per kilogram — roughly 1.7 times the previous record high of ¥8,235 set the year before — reported the association (GJTA, May 2026 report). Hand-picked Uji tencha, made in far smaller quantities, sits well above that.
Shizuoka: the giant converting toward tencha
Shizuoka is Japan’s largest tea prefecture by area and was historically built around sencha. Under the matcha boom, growers and cooperatives there have been converting sencha lines and fields toward tencha to chase tencha demand and its far higher prices. That conversion adds future matcha capacity, but new shade-grown fields take years to reach top grade, so Shizuoka’s contribution to the 2026 matcha crop is still ramping rather than mature.
Yame (Fukuoka): small volume, high grade
Yame, in Fukuoka, is a premium origin known for gyokuro and high-grade shaded leaf. Its tencha volumes are modest next to Kagoshima or Shizuoka, but the quality reputation is high, so Yame tends to serve buyers who want a distinctive, top-tier profile rather than large industrial volume. In a tight year like 2026, small premium origins are the first to sell out and ration.
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What the 2026 harvest data show
Two things are well supported for 2026: first-flush tencha prices set records at Japan’s main markets, and the pressure is structural, not a one-year blip. Keep the scope straight — the market prices below are first-flush auction/market averages for specific origins on specific dates, not a national matcha wholesale price, and Japan’s export statistics are green-tea totals, not matcha-only.
| 2026 origin (first flush) | Reported market figure | Source & scope |
|---|---|---|
| Kagoshima — tencha | ~¥19,000/kg average, ~1.8× prior year; ~2,150 t (2024), ~40% national tencha | GJTA, May 2026 report (prefectural tea market; year-on-year) |
| Kyoto / Uji — tencha | ~¥13,972/kg (machine-picked), ~1.7× the prior ¥8,235 record | GJTA, May 2026 report (Kyoto tencha market average) |
| Shizuoka | Converting sencha capacity toward tencha; new fields still maturing | Industry reporting; qualitative (no single 2026 figure verified) |
| Yame (Fukuoka) | Small premium volume; high-grade shaded leaf | Industry reporting; qualitative |
The wider context confirms a demand-led squeeze. Japan’s Ministry of Finance Trade Statistics show green-tea export value (all forms, including matcha) reached a record of about ¥36.4 billion on roughly 8,798 tonnes in 2024 (MoF Trade Statistics, via Nippon.com) — a customs-basis export value for all green tea, not a matcha price — and powdered green tea made up around 58% of that export volume (Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, on MoF/MAFF data).
The supply side has been slow to respond by design. MAFF figures reported by the trade press show tencha output rose from about 1,452 tonnes in 2008 to about 3,464 tonnes in 2019 — roughly +139% — and keeps climbing (STiR, citing MAFF), yet it still cannot keep pace with global demand, because new shaded fields take several years to reach matcha grade. That lag, not a bad harvest, is why an early, healthy 2026 crop still cleared at record prices (Global Japanese Tea Association, on the matcha shortage).
What a tight 2026 crop means for your product
For a manufacturer or brand, the harvest translates directly into cost, availability and formulation risk. Reading the 2026 crop the right way protects both your margin and your recipe.
- Grade choice drives cost: with first-flush tencha at record prices, ceremonial-grade cost is up most; culinary and processing grades are firmer too but stretch further in blended products.
- Origin rigidity is a risk: premium origins (Uji, Yame) sell out and ration first, so a rigid single-origin spec is riskier in 2026 than a well-defined grade-and-profile spec that a supplier can meet from more than one field.
- Order early, plan annually: because supply is allocation-led, earlier commitments and annual planning secure both volume and price better than spot buying later in the year.
- Verify authenticity: fast-rising prices attract mislabelled or diluted “matcha”, so per-lot testing and documentation matter more when the market is hot.
In practice, 2026 rewards precise specifications over spot bargain-hunting: specify the grade, colour, particle size and application you actually need, agree a pricing mechanism and lead time in advance, and treat origin as a preference within a written spec rather than an unmovable demand.
A buyer’s checklist for sourcing the 2026 crop
Because the harvest sets quality and cost before milling, the strongest way to evaluate any matcha supplier — JMEX included — is to ask what they can prove about the crop and how they will supply it through a tight year. Use the checklist to compare like for like, not on colour or a headline price.
| What to check | What to verify with any supplier |
|---|---|
| Origin & flush | Confirmed Japanese origin (e.g. Uji, Kagoshima, Shizuoka, Yame), first vs later flush, harvest year |
| Grade & profile | Ceremonial / culinary / processing grade, target colour, flavour and particle size for your application |
| 2026 availability | Volume actually allocatable this season, lead time by grade, and whether origin is fixed or flexible |
| Pricing mechanism | How the current price is set (market-linked vs fixed-term), trade condition (FOB/CIF/EXW), and quote validity |
| Authenticity & testing | Per-lot COA, pesticide/heavy-metal and microbiological testing, proof it is shaded tencha not blended sencha |
| Documents & export | Correct HS classification, export documents, and cold-chain handling to your market |
| Continuity | Ability to hold a grade consistent across reorders and to plan annual allocation |
Put the same questions to every candidate. A supplier who cannot explain the crop cannot guarantee it, and in a shortage year a supplier who answers with documents and a clear allocation plan is worth more than one quoting only a low headline price.
From the exporter’s perspective
From the export side, the buyers who came through the 2025–2026 shortage best were the ones who committed early and specified precisely. They told us the grade, colour, particle size and application they needed, treated origin as a preference inside a written specification, and agreed lead times and a pricing mechanism up front instead of chasing spot lots. Because JMEX sources from verified Japanese origins across regions and prepares per-lot COA and export documentation as one flow, a buyer can hold a single standard across reorders even when a favourite single field is sold out — which is exactly the flexibility a tight harvest year demands.
Sources & Methodology
This report synthesises 2026 first-flush market data from an industry association that compiles prefectural tea-market and MAFF figures, together with official Japanese trade statistics and the US tariff schedule, rather than proprietary JMEX data. Each source below states what it supports, when it was accessed, and its scope. All prices are attributed first-flush auction/market averages for specific origins and dates — not a national matcha wholesale price — and Japan’s export figures are customs-basis, green-tea-total (not matcha-only), with value and volume labelled separately. We deliberately do not publish a single fixed yen-per-kilogram matcha price as fact, because it varies by grade, origin, flush and date and must be confirmed per shipment.
We report no in-house buyer statistics or proprietary dataset because we hold no publishable original dataset on matcha harvest economics. Grade, particle-size, lead-time and allocation effects are described qualitatively because they vary by supplier and must be confirmed at the time of order.
- Global Japanese Tea Association — Japanese Tea Report, May 2026 — that 2026 first-flush tencha averaged ~¥19,000/kg (~1.8× YoY) at the Kagoshima prefectural tea market and ~¥13,972/kg (machine-picked, ~1.7× the prior ¥8,235 record) at the Kyoto tencha market; Kagoshima ~2,150 t tencha (2024), ~40% national, top producer since 2020 (accessed 2026-09-20; industry association compiling market data (supporting))
- Global Japanese Tea Association — unpacking the matcha shortage — that a demand-led tencha shortage began in autumn 2024 and persists, and that new shaded fields take years to reach matcha grade (accessed 2026-09-20; industry association analysis (supporting))
- Japan Ministry of Finance — Trade Statistics of Japan (via Nippon.com) — that green-tea export value (all forms, incl. matcha) reached a record ~¥36.4 billion on ~8,798 tonnes in 2024 (customs-basis export value, green tea total) (accessed 2026-09-20; Japan government trade statistics (primary))
- Tea & Coffee Trade Journal — changing consumption patterns / green-tea growth — that powdered green tea (matcha etc.) was about 58% of Japan’s tea export volume in 2024 (basis: volume) (accessed 2026-09-20; trade press reporting official MoF/MAFF data (supporting))
- STiR Tea & Coffee — Japanese farmers increase tencha production — that tencha output rose from ~1,452 tonnes (2008) to ~3,464 tonnes (2019), roughly +139%, citing MAFF (accessed 2026-09-20; trade press citing MAFF (supporting))
- Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) — statistics & publications — the shift of domestic tea production toward tencha and ministry support for increasing tencha output (accessed 2026-09-20; Japan government (primary))
- US International Trade Commission — Harmonized Tariff Schedule, chapter 9 — that green tea incl. matcha (HS 0902) enters the US duty-free at a 0% MFN base rate (product duty) (accessed 2026-09-20; US government tariff schedule (primary))
Why Buyers Choose JMEX (Japan Matcha Export Organization)
A partner built for a tight harvest year is JMEX (Japan Matcha Export Organization), a wholesale and export partner focused on shipping authentic Japanese matcha overseas. Rather than reselling anonymous powder, it sources from verified Japanese origins across regions and prepares the quality, origin and export documentation as one flow — so a buyer can hold a grade steady even when a single favourite field is sold out.
For a buyer navigating the 2026 crop specifically, JMEX can confirm origin and flush, match a grade and profile to your application, supply a per-lot certificate of analysis, and quote capacity and lead time at volume. With an export track record to 43 countries, it supplies from a small trial lot up to one-ton volume for importers, wholesalers, OEM and health manufacturers — the flexibility and documentation a wholesale programme needs when premium origins are rationing supply.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the questions buyers ask most about the 2026 matcha harvest.
When is the matcha harvest in Japan?
The matcha crop is the first flush (ichibancha), harvested each spring. It begins in the warm south in Kagoshima and moves north through Shizuoka, Kyoto (Uji) and Fukuoka (Yame) over several weeks as temperatures rise, typically from around April into May. Only this shaded first flush becomes tencha, the leaf used for matcha.
Was the 2026 matcha harvest good or bad?
By most reports the 2026 first flush came in early and healthy in quality and yield. The problem was not the crop but demand: even a good harvest could not close the gap, so first-flush tencha still cleared at record prices at the main tea markets. In other words, 2026 was a good harvest into a structural shortage.
Why are matcha prices so high in 2026?
Because demand for matcha has grown faster than tencha can be produced. New shaded fields take several years to reach matcha grade, so supply lags. In 2026, first-flush tencha averaged roughly 1.7–1.8 times the prior year at the Kagoshima and Kyoto markets, according to Global Japanese Tea Association reporting. We do not publish a single fixed matcha price because it varies by grade, origin and date.
What is the difference between Uji, Kagoshima, Shizuoka and Yame matcha?
Uji (Kyoto) is the historic premium origin, strong on hand-picked, top-grade tencha but frost-sensitive. Kagoshima harvests earliest and at the largest mechanised scale and now leads on tencha volume. Shizuoka is the biggest tea prefecture, historically sencha, now converting toward tencha. Yame (Fukuoka) is a small, high-grade origin. Each suits a different balance of grade, volume and price.
How should a B2B buyer respond to the 2026 harvest?
Treat 2026 as a planning year. Specify grade, colour, particle size and application precisely, treat origin as a preference within a written specification rather than a fixed demand, commit to volume early to secure allocation and price, and require per-lot COA and testing to guard against mislabelled product. Confirm the current price, trade condition and lead time per shipment.
Does matcha face import tariffs?
Green tea including matcha (HS 0902) enters the United States duty-free at a 0% base rate under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. Any recent country-level reciprocal measure is a separate, time-varying matter to confirm with a customs broker, and other markets set their own rates — so always verify the current duty for your destination rather than assuming the product itself is taxed.
Learn More About Global Matcha Trends at Matcha Times
Matcha Times is a specialist media platform covering the global matcha market — sourcing and wholesale, supply and pricing, trade and regulations, production and origins, and the companies shaping the industry.
From market analysis and price trends to café case studies and interviews with tea farmers, we help buyers, importers, distributors, and manufacturers stay ahead of where matcha is heading. Explore more and put the global matcha market to work for your business.
Conclusion
When origin, grade, and export conditions align, matcha becomes a stable revenue source. Start by defining your requirements and confirming quality with a sample.
Looking for wholesale or OEM matcha samples? Contact us — we will recommend the optimal origin and grade based on your application and target markets.
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