Finance Ministry Calls for Increasing Tariff-Free Rice Imports

   Tokyo, April 15 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Finance Ministry proposed Tuesday that the government expand the minimum access system under which the country imports about 770,000 tons of rice per year at zero tariffs.
   The ministry made the proposal at a meeting of a subcommittee of the Fiscal System Council, which advises the finance minister, at a time when domestic rice prices are historically high.
   Of the 770,000-ton quota, up to 100,000 tons are allotted for rice as a staple food. The remaining amount is sold at lower prices for processing and feeding, placing a heavy fiscal burden on the government.
   Recently, private companies have sharply increased rice imports while paying high tariffs, against the backdrop of shortages of rice as a staple food. In view of the situation, the ministry proposed raising the tariff-free quota for such rice.
   Meanwhile, the ministry said that the management of government-stockpiled rice should be shifted to a system that combines it with private rice stocks, in order to reduce related government spending.

(2025/04/15-20:04)