Japan's food self-sufficiency rate up to 40%, 1st rise in 13 yrs

TOKYO, Aug. 6 Kyodo - Japan's food self-sufficiency rate in fiscal 2007 rose 0.1 percentage point from the previous year to 40 percent in calorie terms -- the first increase in 13 years -- on higher rice consumption and the popularity of domestic
vegetables, the farm ministry said Tuesday.

''It is an encouraging sign,'' Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister
Seiichi Ota told a news conference. ''We will make efforts on both the
production and consumption sides to ensure this trend continues.''
Masatoshi Wakabayashi, Ota's predecessor, had said the government would
consider raising its self-sufficiency rate target for fiscal 2015 from the
current 45 percent to more than 50 percent.
Ota, who was appointed to the post of farm minister in last Friday's Cabinet
reshuffle, has said he intends to follow Wakabayashi's policy.
But the rise in fiscal 2007, which ended last March, came as a result of
increased consumption of domestically produced rice and wheat due to spikes in
global grain prices and does not necessarily indicate a breakthrough for a
higher food self-sufficiency rate.
According to the farm ministry, rice consumption rose for the first time in 12
years in fiscal 2007, while demand for domestic vegetables increased toward the
end of the fiscal year after food poisoning cases in January involving
Chinese-made ''gyoza'' dumplings contaminated with pesticide.
Wheat production hit a 10-year high and output of sugar beet and cane expanded,
the ministry said.
Japan's food self-sufficiency rate stood at 73 percent in fiscal 1965 but
plunged to 37 percent in fiscal 1993.
After remaining at 40 percent from fiscal 1998 to 2005, the rate dropped to 39
percent in fiscal 2006 due to falling production of fruit and raw sugar due to
bad weather.
The farm ministry has given priority to expanding production of rice as a
replacement for wheat flour and animal feed. But prices for rice used as such
replacements are too low to encourage farmers to increase production without
extra subsidies, a senior ministry official said.
At a ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization last week, Japan faced
increased pressure to expand its farm imports. While the multilateral trade
liberalization talks have broken down for the time being, Japan could be forced
in future negotiations to increase imports of cheaper foreign food products.
==Kyodo