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Japan to launch agri information service

TOKYO: Japan's Agriculture Ministry will launch a foreign agricultural information service for local farm industries next year, providing data on farm product output and export conditions overseas, an official said.

Gathering data from 24 major food exporting countries, the ministry will send weekly reports about production and export conditions of vegetables, beef and rice to local importers and consumers, the ministry official said.

"Japan is increasingly becoming a large farm product importer, particularly after we opened our rice market on the GATT agreement. An information service like this is needed," he said.

The ministry will spend 170 million yen during fiscal 1996-97 (April-March) on launching the service, the official said. Local farm product importers are particularly interested in detailed data about grain growing conditions in North America and vegetable export capacity in Southeast Asia, he said.-Reuter