date:May 24, 2013
Japan's Ministry of Agriculturebought 122,222 tonnes of food wheat from the United States,Canada and Australia in a regular tender that closed onThursday, a ministry official said. Japan is the world's sixth-biggest importer of wheat, andthe ministry keeps a tight grip on imports of the country'ssecond most important staple after rice.
Local production accounts for about 10 percent of domesticwheat demand.
The ministry buys about 5 million tonnes of foreign wheatfor milling annually.