Japanese rice production may decline 6.9 percent this year to the lowest level in six years as cool and rainy summer weather curbs yield, a research institute said.
Japan, the world's largest grain importer, is self- sufficient in rice as the government protects growers from foreign competition with a 778 percent tariff on imports. The nation imported 1.1 million tons of rice in the year ended March 31, 1994 and an additional 1.5 million tons in the following year after a cool, rainy summer damaged crops in 1993.
"Rice output will probably fall short of consumption this year, but given large stockpiles of old crops, overall supply will be sufficient to meet domestic demand," Takahashi said.
No comments:
Post a Comment