Japan: Government buys less barley than planned

Japan's Ministry of Agriculture bought 82,000 tonnes of feed barley in a tender that fell well short of the amounts it wanted to buy, Reuters reported June 11.

The ministry had planned to buy up to 301,000 tonnes of feed barley under its simultaneous buy and sell (SBS) system.

All the bids placed were accepted, but the number of bidders was limited due to high market prices and as users held onto stocks, the official said.

The official said the ministry bought feed barley at a weighted average price of 46,025 yen ($429) per tonne.

In the previous SBS tender for feed barley on April 16, the ministry bought 179,740 tonnes of feed barley at 46,022 yen per tonne on average.

The ministry has said it will buy 1.41 million tonnes of feed barley in the fiscal year to next March, unchanged from the previous year.

The cargoes will be for loading from the time the contract is concluded to September 30.

13 June, 2008