Japanese authorities increase wheat prices by 5.8%

The Japanese government has decided from April to September this year to raise prices for imported wheat by 5.6% compared with the previous half. This was announced on Tuesday at a press conference in Tokyo by Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Tetsuro Nomura. He explained that the increase in line with the growth of world prices should have been more than 13%. "However, it was decided to cut this figure by about half, given the importance of food products from wheat for consumers," the head of the agricultural department said. Japan imports about 90% of the wheat it consumes. Most of it is purposefully purchased by the government and then resold at uniform prices to flour milling companies in the interest of stabilizing the market. These prices are determined every six months. From April to October, the government will spend about 10 ...