Tokyo, Sept. 25 (Jiji Press)–New Japanese agriculture minister Kazuo Yana said in a recent interview that the top focus of his agricultural policy will be ensuring appropriate prices for agricultural products. “With prices of production materials rising, it is difficult for farmers to secure profits,” Yana said. “Establishing appropriate prices and creating conditions that enable farmers to continue production and make reinvestments is an urgent task.” The minister stopped short of specifying when the government will conduct additional buybacks of rice released from its stockpiles last year. “We will make a decision after assessing the harvest outlook and supply and demand conditions,” he said. “We will respond swiftly, appropriately and in a timely manner.” “We also need to secure warehouse space, so naturally we have to proceed in a planned manner,” he added. Regarding the current supply-demand balance for rice, Yana said high private-sector inventories are affecting rice prices. “We will more thoroughly ensure that production in 2027 is in line with demand and seek to stabilize the supply-demand balance,” he said. He said he instructed his ministry to carefully examine how negotiations were carried out to determine the amount of advance payments to farmers for new rice, after the payments fell below an indicator of production costs. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
