Japan ends 2006-07 foreign rice tenders

Japan's Agriculture Ministry has bought a total 678,416 MT of polished and brown foreign rice since April 2006 and has covered its needs for fiscal 2006/07, a ministry official said on Tuesday.

The eighth and last tender for imported rice to be used in processing food and to make alcohol was held last week, and the ministry's imports for such use totalled 578,416 MT in fiscal 2006/07.

In addition, the ministry had bought 100,000 MT of polished and brown foreign rice for table use. Japan keeps a tight grip on imports of key grains such as rice and wheat as the country's food self-sufficiency rate stands at 40 percent on a calorie basis, one of the lowest among industrialised nations.