Japan's wheat needs covered until April

Japan will not issue any purchase tenders for wheat this month as it has already covered most of its requirements through April.

The next regular tender is likely to be issued in the first week of March seeking cargoes for May shipment, said a ministry official on Tuesday (Feb 23).

A sell-buy-sell, or SBS, tender for feed wheat and barley may be announced Wednesday and results are expected to be finalised by March 3, the official said. Another SBS tender for food wheat and barley is scheduled for Friday (Feb 26), but the results may be finalised only by the third week of March.

Under the SBS system, end-users can negotiate as a group on the price, quantity and origin of grains before submitting bids to trading firms via the agriculture ministry.

Japan is one of Asia's major wheat importers.