Japan End-Feb. Private Rice Inventories Up 1.5 Times

Tokyo, March 31 (Jiji Press)--Japan's private-sector rice inventories totaled 3 million tons at the end of February, up 1.5 times from a year earlier, the agriculture ministry said in a survey report Tuesday.

Rice sales have remained sluggish, partly due to high prices, causing inventories to swell to their highest level in a decade.

Private-sector inventories represent the combined holdings by aggregators, such as Japan Agricultural Cooperatives, or JA, and wholesalers.

Stocks held by rice aggregators increased by 740,000 tons from a year earlier to 2.33 million tons, while inventories held by wholesalers rose by 210,000 tons to 670,000 tons.

The inventory level equaled 43 pct of expected demand for the year through June, the highest level since the survey began.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]