Japan has bought 10,000 MT of Thai rice for processing use and alcohol manufacture in an ordinary tender held last week, the first tender for any rice imports in the financial year started on April 1, a farm ministry official said on Thursday.
Shipments are for between the end of June and mid-August, the official said. Of the total 17 bids, five were accepted, and the average purchase price was 47,175 yen ($388) a tonne. Japan keeps a tight grip on imports of rice, the country's staple food, as its food self-sufficiency rate is one of the lowest among industrialised nations.
The ministry has said it would buy 770,000 MT of foreign rice on a brown rice basis in fiscal 2007/08 to supplement the domestic harvest. The volume is unchanged from a year earlier and in line with world trade agreements.
Reuters
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