Japan Press Weekly

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2008 November 5 - 11 [AGRICULTURE]

Agriculture Ministry resumes auctions for imported rice but concludes unsuccessfully

The Agriculture Ministry on November 7 resumed auctions for foreign rice in disregard of public concerns about the safety of foreign rice. Auctions had been suspended for about two months after the revelation that tainted imported rice was sold extensively through auctions.

However, the prices offered by trading firms were so high that the government decided not to buy all of the 51,000 tons put up for auction.

The ministry concluded the auction unsuccessfully against a background of public calls for “food safety” that began increasing amid the contaminated imported rice scandal. To meet this public demand, regulations on foreign rice imports have been made stricter, forcing trading firms to pay the costs for rice imports and offer higher prices.

The public is now anxious about the resumption of auction for foreign rice imported under the World Trade Organization minimum access agreement because the government has not taken any action to determine the underlying cause of the tainted rice incident and to prevent the recurrence of a similar event.

Resuming bids for imported rice faces public protest

Representatives of the National Liaison Association to Safeguard the Food and Health of the Nation (Zenkoku-Shokkenren) visited the agriculture ministry on the same day to call for a full-scale investigation into the contaminated-rice scandal as well as for the cancellation of foreign rice imports.

Zenkoku-Shokkenren Secretary General Sakaguchi Masaaki said, “The government has released only few names of companies that have bought tainted-foreign rice, but the public does not believe that the whole extent of the incident has been revealed.”

Consumers, farmers, and workers converged on the ministry to demand the cancellation of foreign rice imports and the expansion of domestic farm products.

A farmer said, “The government kept importing contaminated-foreign rice by using the WTO minimum access agreement as an excuse, and thus it must be held responsible. It has deceived the public into eating the tainted rice. This has caused tremendous public anxiety.”