Japan can export long-grain rice and cut surplus of its staple food by making better use of idle rice paddies and converting some fields to grow the type of grains popular to global markets, a leading trader said on Friday. Nobuyuki Chino, president of Tokyo-based trading company Unipac Grain, said he will set up a new firm on April 1 called Continental Rice Ltd (Conti Rice), targeting harvest of long-grain rice from as early as 2012.
Unipac Grain, a corn importing firm, will gradually immerse into the new company which will handle rice exports, he told Reuters, but added the plan to ship out long-grain rice must first overcome a few obstacles. "By growing the type of rice where there is huge demand outside, Japan can make effective use of its idle rice paddy fields while helping to boost competitiveness of the Japanese rice type consumed domestically," Chino said in an interview.
"Japan can meet the demand from importers such as Indonesia and the Philippines," said Chino, who has traded grains for more than 30 years. He traded rice when he worked in Hong Kong for Continental Grain Company in the 1970s. The Philippines imported a record 2.45 million tonnes of rice this year, while Indonesia has secured a total 1.33 million tonnes of the grain from Thailand and Vietnam for delivery until February 2011.