JAPAN

Parallel Purchase of Foreign, Domestic Rice to End: As of late July, the Japanese Agriculture Ministry will no longer require that domestic rice be sold with imported rice, Nikkei English News reported Friday. The policy mandating parallel purchasing of foreign and Japanese rice will expire when sales of this year’s crop commence late next month, the report said. Earlier this year, the ministry ordered retailers and wholesalers to sell the two varieties together in order to prevent exhausting supplies of domestic rice and to encourage consumption of foreign rice. Japan abandoned a ban on rice imports last year to cope with a crop shortage.