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Japan to Export Rice to Philippines As Emergency Relief

Posted on: Saturday, 17 May 2008, 12:00 CDT

Japan has decided to export 50,000 tons of rice to the Philippines as emergency relief for the Southeast Asian rice importer, which is unable to secure enough supplies in the face of soaring international rice prices, government officials said Friday.

The government is considering tapping a stockpile of rice it purchased in 2005 to address a surplus, they said.

Prices of rice bound for the Philippines are expected to be set at nearly 90,000 yen per ton to reflect international price trends.

The Uruguay Round trade agreement obligates Japan to import at least 770,000 tons of rice annually for domestic consumption.

Japan is considering using part of surplus rice imported under the multilateral trade agreement in order to help developing countries suffering from food shortages.

Japan will start negotiations with the United States, a major exporter of rice to Japan, possibly next week, to pave the way for it to use imported rice to support developing countries, the officials said.

The United States is expected to approve the plan as an exception to the Uruguay Round accord, the officials said.

During the expected negotiations with Washington, Japan will also explain its difficulty of fulfilling the minimum import obligation under the Uruguay Round accord in the wake of surging rice prices in the international market, the officials said.

Originally published by Kyodo News Service, Tokyo, in English 1656 16 May 08.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

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