Unapproved genetically modified (GM) wheat found growing in the United States is threatening U.S. exports of the world’s biggest traded food commodity, with Japan stopping a purchase against a backdrop of high consumer sensitivity to gene-altered food. Japan cancelled a tender offer to buy U.S. western white wheat, while other top Asian wheat importers South
U.S. GM wheat find threatens exports, stokes consumer fear
Japan to boost animal feed grain reserves by 44 per cent to smooth supply shocks
Reuters / Japan plans to boost its animal feed reserves by 44 per cent in the fiscal year starting in April, the Farm Ministry said Jan. 29, as the world’s top corn buyer seeks to smooth supply shocks while it diversifies purchases away from the United States. The move could support prices by further tightening global
Japan corn users urge U.S. to limit ethanol
Six key groups of corn users in Japan, the world’s biggest user of the grain, have urged the United States, the world’s biggest supplier, to cut back on using corn to make ethanol, so as to ease a supply shortage due to the worst drought in 56 years. In the first request of its kind,
El Nino emerges, raising fears over food prices
An El Nino weather pattern is underway and will last until winter, Japan said on Friday, foreshadowing disruptive conditions that could harm crops from Australia to India at a time of rising fears about global food supplies. Corn prices have surged more than 60 per cent in the past two months as the United States
Japan’s corn use in feed drops to 20-year low
Japan’s usage of corn in animal feed reached a 20-year low in May, maintaining a downtrend that began in 2010 when high prices spurred the world’s biggest corn importer to use more wheat instead. Preliminary government data released Friday showed the ratio of corn in animal feed fell to 43.7 per cent in May compared
Japan to import less food wheat in 2012-13
Reuters / Japan, the world’s fifth-biggest wheat importer, plans to buy 6.5 per cent less foreign food wheat in the year to March 2013 in anticipation of higher local production, helped by government initiatives to lift food self-sufficiency. A panel of experts approved a plan March 28 by the Ministry of Agriculture to buy 4.78 million
Radiation In Japanese Food A Concern
The World Health Organization said on Monday that radiation in food after an earthquake damaged a Japanese nuclear plant was more serious than previously thought, eclipsing signs of progress in a battle to avert a catastrophic meltdown in its reactors. Engineers managed to rig power cables to all six reactors at the Fukushima complex, 240
Japan postpones changes on wheat imports
Japan is postponing a plan to make its rigid wheat import system more flexible by at least several months after flour millers and other users protested that they are not in a position to take on more risk of price fluctuations. A more flexible system could lead to more imports through a simultaneous buy and
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