Japanese Matcha Price Tracker 2026: Live Auction & Wholesale Data

Maintained by Christian Mauerer, Founder of One with Tea · Updated as each new event lands.

This page is the running hub for the 2026 Japanese matcha market: tencha auction prices, the harvest behind them, the export and tariff data shaping supply, and what it all means for ceremonial matcha buyers. Each major event gets its own dated news article. This page is the index that ties them together, with a current-state summary, a 2026 auction calendar, and links to the deep-dive coverage.

I source matcha for a small US brand. I've spent every spring since I started tracking the Uji opening auction, because it's the closest thing the matcha world has to a futures market. This page is what I check when someone asks me what's actually happening with matcha prices right now.

2026 auction calendar

Event	Window	Status	Coverage
Kagoshima first auction	April 6, 2026	✅ Average +60% YoY	Regional report
Uji first auction (sencha/gyokuro)	April 24, 2026	✅ Average +22%, records set	Regional report
Kyoto Uji tencha opening	May 16, 2026	✅ Printed materially above 2025	Opening brief
Aichi (Nishio) mid-season	June 2026 (TBD)	Pending	—
Autumn auctions	October-November 2026	Pending	—

The Kyoto Uji opening is the bellwether event. Its prints anchor every downstream auction for the rest of the season. Regional auctions in Aichi (Nishio), Shizuoka, and Kagoshima for non-Uji ceremonial-grade leaf calibrate against the Uji opening as the reference point.

Current price trajectory

The 2026 harvest

Japan's 2026 first flush came in early and clean. Warm temperatures and steady rain from mid-March pulled the harvest forward across regions, and Kyoto reported no frost damage, a reversal from 2025 when an April frost damaged Kyoto's hand-picked tencha crop. Producers reported good yields and quality on the 2026 leaf.

The better harvest did not soften the market. Tencha, the shade-grown leaf behind ceremonial matcha, remained the center of gravity. It accounted for roughly 90 percent of Uji trade by value, with total Uji auction volume projected to double to about ¥10.4 billion. The opening prints still rose hard: Kagoshima's first trading day on April 6 ran about 60 percent above a year earlier (Nikkei Shimbun, April 23, 2026), and the Uji auction average climbed 22 percent to ¥20,879 per kilogram on April 24, with hand-rolled gyokuro setting a record at ¥500,000 per kilogram (Asahi Shimbun, April 25, 2026). Shizuoka was the exception that proves the rule, posting a record top lot of ¥1.18 million per kilogram while its overall average slipped for a second straight year to ¥9,019 per kilogram. The premium end is white-hot; the commodity end is soft. Demand is concentrating on shaded, ceremonial-grade leaf.

The longer arc explains why a single good harvest changes little. Tencha production grew 139 percent between 2008 and 2019 (1,452 to 3,464 tonnes) and still cannot keep pace with demand. More than 56 percent of Japan's tea farmers are over 65, and 37 percent of tea land carries bushes more than 30 years old (GJTA, citing MAFF census). For the full supply picture, see The 2026 Matcha Shortage Explained.

What's driving 2026 prices

Four pressures stack on each other in 2026. Each one operates on a different timeline. Together they explain why the price of a real ceremonial tin is unlikely to retrace meaningfully this year.

Supply is structurally tight. Real ceremonial-grade tencha comes from a handful of regions (Uji, Nishio, Kagoshima, Shizuoka), and the number of tea-farming households in Japan fell 62 percent, from 53,687 in 2000 to 20,144 in 2015, and has kept falling since (MAFF census). New tea plants take 4 to 5 years to reach maturity. For the full picture, see The 2026 Matcha Shortage Explained.

Global demand kept climbing. The global matcha market roughly tripled in production from 2010 to 2023. The 2024-2025 demand wave broke past what the existing fields could deliver. Japan's FY2025 export value rose 2.2x to ¥84.7B even as volume rose 42%, the textbook signature of buyers competing on price for a constrained product.

The 2026 Iran-Hormuz oil overlay added another modest cost layer. Japan imports ~94% of its crude oil from the Middle East; tea drying uses kerosene and LPG. When Brent rises, drying costs rise with a lag. Container freight from Japan to the US also moves with bunker fuel. Each layer is a few percent; together they stack.

The yen cascade. Japan imports nearly all primary energy. When oil rises, the yen weakens, and every imported input (fertilizer, aluminum, packaging) gets more expensive for Japanese producers. The cascade is slow and structural; it adds up.

For the full year forecast plus prefecture-by-prefecture supply analysis, see 2026 Matcha Industry Outlook.

Exports and the US market

The United States is now the single largest destination for Japanese tea, roughly 30 percent of export tonnage (about 3,497 tonnes in January through October 2025), and a matcha-led share. Taiwan, Thailand, and Germany follow (GJTA, December 2025). When US demand moves, the whole Japanese matcha supply chain feels it.

2025 was the breakout year. Japan's tea exports passed 10,000 tonnes for the first time in 71 years, since 1954. Fiscal 2025 closed at a record 13,125 tonnes, up 42 percent, with export value more than doubling to ¥84.7 billion and powdered tea about 70 percent of the volume. Foreign tea imports into Japan rose 82 percent to 5,801 tonnes, backfilling shelves the export pull emptied (Jiji Press / Finance Ministry).

One thing moved in US buyers' favor. The September 2025 US-Japan trade agreement removed the 15 percent reciprocal tariff on Japanese green tea and matcha, bringing the rate to zero in late 2025. It does not undo the auction-driven cost increases, but it takes one layer off the landed cost of honest Japanese matcha reaching the US. Tea ware such as teapots and bowls was not included in the carve-out.

What this means for buyers right now

If you drink matcha at home: Buy what you'll drink in the next 60 to 90 days. Stockpiling rarely beats steady buying — once matcha is sealed, oxidation starts the moment the seal breaks. Verify origin before price. Look for a specific Japanese region (Uji, Nishio, Yame, Kagoshima) and a harvest date. Below $25 per 30g of USDA Organic ceremonial in 2026, the math is hard to close honestly.

If you run a cafe or studio: Lock pricing for the next quarter if your menu has any margin. The 2026 opening print signals the fall 2026 supplier quote will be higher than today's. Our wholesale program is taking on a small number of new accounts for the 2026 season.

If you're new to matcha: Start with a single honest tin and learn what real tencha tastes like before any stockpile question matters. Our beginner's guide walks through what to look for.

What a fair 2026 price looks like

If you have 30 seconds in front of a tin:

• Floor for honest USDA Organic + JAS-certified ceremonial 30g: roughly $28-32 in early 2026 retail.
• Reasonable mid-range: roughly $32-42, depending on cultivar specificity and named region.
• Above $50 per 30g: usually a single-cultivar, named-farm, hand-picked first-flush. These exist and they're wonderful, but you're paying for harvest specificity, not "premium" as a marketing word.

A brand that quietly held 2023 prices through 2026 either has a margin source the rest of the industry doesn't have, or is making one of the silent quality trades documented in our counterfeit matcha guide. Founder-direct pricing communication is the cleanest signal.

How One with Tea sources through 2026

We hold direct relationships with named Japanese organic-certified farms, which gives us a clearer view into supplier-side cost moves than a brand sourcing through a re-packer. We adjusted our tin pricing in early 2026 to reflect what landed cost actually became (25-35% on our flagship ceremonial line). We did not blend, did not swap to a non-Japanese cultivar, did not shrink the tin. Same prefecture, same cultivar pool, same JAS plus USDA Organic certification stack, same per-lot heavy-metal and pesticide panels published on our Lab Results page.

Update log

• 2026-06-15 — Expanded into a full matcha industry report. Added the 2026 harvest pillar (early flush, no frost, good yields, yet records set) and the export/tariff pillar (US now ~30% of Japanese tea exports; 15% US reciprocal tariff on green tea removed to 0% in late 2025). Re-sourced the April auction figures to Nikkei and Asahi Shimbun directly.
• 2026-05-26 — Tracker page created as the running hub for 2026 Japanese tencha auction prices. Links the May 16 Kyoto opening event, the matcha-shortage and industry-outlook deep dives.
• 2026-05-16 — Kyoto Uji opening tencha auction printed materially above 2025. Full coverage: Opening brief.
• 2026-04-24 — Uji first auction: average +22% to ¥20,879/kg, gyokuro record ¥500,000/kg, tencha ~90% of trade, volume projected to double to ¥10.4B (Asahi Shimbun).
• 2026-04-06 — Kagoshima first auction average rose ~60% YoY (Nikkei Shimbun).

Frequently asked questions

What is the Kyoto tencha auction and why does it matter?

Tencha is the shade-grown leaf used to make ceremonial matcha. The Kyoto Uji opening auction is the first sale of each year's first-flush tencha, and it sets the reference price that every downstream tencha auction (Aichi, Shizuoka, Kagoshima) calibrates against. When the opening prints high, every ceremonial-grade tencha lot in Japan prices off that anchor for the rest of the season.

Did the 2026 harvest bring matcha prices down?

No. The 2026 first flush came in early with good yields and no frost, but spring auction prices still set records. Kagoshima's first auction rose about 60 percent year over year and the Uji average rose 22 percent. Tencha now makes up roughly 90 percent of Uji trade by value, with volume projected to double to ¥10.4 billion. A good harvest did not loosen the market because the demand pulling on ceremonial-grade leaf is structural, not seasonal.

Who is the biggest buyer of Japanese matcha?

The United States is the single largest destination for Japanese tea, roughly 30 percent of export tonnage in 2025, and that share is matcha-led. Taiwan, Thailand, and Germany follow. US demand is now a primary driver of Japanese matcha pricing.

Is there a tariff on Japanese matcha imported to the US?

Not currently on the tea itself. The September 2025 US-Japan trade agreement removed the 15 percent reciprocal tariff on Japanese green tea and matcha, bringing the rate to zero in late 2025. Tea ware such as teapots and bowls was not included in that carve-out. The change lowers landed cost slightly but does not offset the auction-driven price increases.

How much have matcha prices risen in 2026?

Tencha wholesale is running 30 to 60 percent above pre-2025 levels. Retail ceremonial 30g tins that were $30-40 in 2023 are commonly $50-80 from honest brands in 2026. Our own flagship ceremonial line stepped up 25-35% in early 2026 to reflect actual landed cost.

When will prices stabilize?

Plan for today's prices as the new normal for the next 24 to 36 months. Best case, the rest of 2026's harvest stabilizes and the 2027 opening prints flat to 2026. A return to 2023 levels requires both demand softening and new tencha capacity coming online; neither happens quickly. New tea plants take 4 to 5 years to mature.

How can I tell if my brand is sourcing honestly?

Three signals: founder-direct pricing communication (acknowledged price moves with reference to specific data), published lab reports per lot, and a named Japanese region of origin (Uji, Nishio, Yame, Kagoshima) plus a harvest date on the package. Vague "Product of Japan" labels with no prefecture and no grade distinction often indicate culinary-grade leaf sold at ceremonial prices.

Why does the Iran-Hormuz situation affect Japanese matcha?

Japan imports about 94% of its crude oil from the Middle East, with ~93% normally transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Tea drying uses kerosene and LPG, both refined products of crude. When Brent rises, drying costs rise with a few weeks lag. Container freight from Japan to the US also moves with bunker fuel. The Iran-conflict overlay adds a modest layer on top of the existing tencha shortage.