Japan’s rice exports hit record high for Jan.-July

TOKYO, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) — Japan’s rice exports hit a record high between January and July of this year both in volume and value, local media reported.
Rice exports climbed 29.1 percent from a year earlier to 6.46 billion yen (about 44.4 million U.S. dollars) in the reporting period, while the export volume increased 23 percent to 24,469 tons, Jiji Press reported on Tuesday, citing agriculture ministry data.
In value, the overall exports of Japanese agricultural, forestry and fishery products plus food fell 2 percent to 815.6 billion yen, the report said.
On the domestic front, Japan faces a rice shortage at retail stores. However, rice exports only account for a fraction of the country’s total annual rice demand of about 7 million tons, the report said. (1 Japanese yen equals 0.0069 U.S. dollar) ■