March 1, 2007

Japan buys feed wheat, barley at SBS

Japan's Agriculture Ministry bought 11,995 tonnes of feed wheat and 170,310 tonnes of feed barley at an import tender under the simultaneous buy and sell system (SBS), a ministry official said on Wednesday.

Shipment must be made between March and May.

The average buying price for wheat was 31,704 yen (US$268) per tonne, while the average selling price was 33,645 yen (US$284) per tonne.

The average buying price for barley was 32,277 yen (US$272) per tonne, while the average selling price was 34,232 yen (US$289) per tonne.

It was the first SBS tender for supplies of feed wheat and feed barley for the fiscal year beginning on April 1.

The ministry plans to buy a total of 200,000 tonnes of feed wheat and 1.41 million tonnes of feed barley for fiscal 2007/08.

This fiscal year, the ministry bought a total 84,715 tonnes of feed wheat and 1.108 million tonnes feed barley through SBS tenders.

The ministry introduced the SBS system for import tenders for feed-use wheat and barley in 1999 so Japanese end-users could designate the origin, price and quality of grain sought.

The ministry holds a separate weekly import tender under which it buys specific types of milling wheat and barley from the United States, Canada and Australia.