Japan's Agriculture Ministry bought 40,000 tonnes of rice from the United States, Thailand and Vietnam at an ordinary import tender on Friday, a ministry official said. The average buying price was 58,880 yen ($488.90) per tonne, he said.
The ministry bought 26,000 tonnes from the United States, and 7,000 tonnes each from Thailand and Vietnam, the official said.
It was the sixth ordinary tender for imported rice in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006.
In the previous five tenders, the ministry bought a total of 326,500 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.