Japan to hold tender for 120,000 tonnes of rice

Japan's Agriculture Ministry will hold an ordinary import tender for 120,000 tonnes of rice on November 11, a ministry official said on Wednesday.
Of the total, the ministry plans to buy 65,000 tonnes from the United States and 42,000 tonnes from Thailand, he said. The remaining 13,000 tonnes are of optional origin. Shipment for US and Thai rice must be made between December 10 and January 25, while shipment for other origins is set from December 10 to January 31, the official said.
It will be the fifth ordinary tender for imported rice in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006 In the previous four tenders the ministry bought a total of 206,500 tonnes of foreign rice.
The ministry holds two types of rice import tenders - ordinary, and simultaneous buy and sell (SBS) - in line with world trade agreements.
In fiscal 2005/06 the ministry is obliged to buy 770,000 tonnes of foreign rice on a brown rice basis.
Of that total, it plans to buy 100,000 tonnes through SBS tenders, unchanged from the previous year, and the rest through ordinary tenders. Rice imported under ordinary tenders is mainly used for processed food and alcohol, while that imported under SBS tenders is mostly used as table rice.