Japan's Agriculture Ministry is seeking to buy 3,180 MT of foreign rice mostly to be used as table rice at a tender on March 7 under the simultaneous buy and sell system.

The SBS tender will be the fifth such tender in the year ending on March 31. Unlike ordinary tenders in which the only bidders are licensed trading firms, SBS tenders allow users to negotiate the grain's origin, price and quantity with trading houses before jointly placing bids to the government.