JAPAN: NEW LAW TO DEREGULATE RICE MARKET

Jap/Eng/Nat APEC ministers will meet in Osaka, Japan next week to try and thrash out an agreement over free trade of agriculture within East Asia and the Pacific Rim. However, Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan remain reluctant to lift protectionist barriers for their farmers. Rice farmers in Japan are anxious about their future prosperity under a deregulated market and are pressure on their government not to give way. Japan consumes 10 (m) million tonnes of rice each year, which is nearly all produced domestically. 43 year old Eiji Hirayama has been harvesting rice in this field three hours drive north of Tokyo, for most of his life. Like his father before him , Eiji has enjoyed the protection the government has offered, a premium price and little competition. Stiff trade barriers prevent exporting nations like Australia and the United States from openly entering the Japanese rice market. The Japanese government introduced a new law on November 1 which allows farmers to sidestep the powerful distribution cartels and sell to the retailer direct. The government says this is the first step toward deregulating its rice market under the world trade agreement and gives farmers more money per kilo of rice. But Eiji believes it's an attempt by the government to deflect criticism for allowing foreign rice to hit Japanese supermarket shelves. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) "If imported rice and Japanese rice are put into the market place, Japanese rice will lose because the imported rice is cheaper. This is what makes me anxious the most." SUPER CAPTION: Eiji Hirayama, Japanese Rice Farmer Last year in Bagor, Indonesia, leaders from the Asia and Pacific Economic CoOperation (APEC) decided to aim for full open market access by the year 2010 for industrialized countries and 2020 for developing countries. But the Bagor declaration is laced with loopholes that allow countries like Japan to avoid trade commitments in sensitive market areas. SOUNDBITE: (English) "We have no indication, no intention of revising the Bagor declaration that is. But as for the treatment of sensitive sectors, what we are saying is that some sensitive sectors deserve different treatment." SUPER CAPTION: Hiromoto Seki, Ambassador in charge of APEC Canada's trade minister Roy McLaren has arrived in Japan early for APEC. He is spending his time promoting his country's agricultural products hoping to chip away at the Japanese trade barriers. SOUNDBITE: (English) "It's important because we think that agriculture should be freed. We think for example, we have proposed in APEC and other free trade organisations that we abolish all forms of agricultural export subsidies, an idea that is not yet being supported by everybody." SUPER CAPTION: Roy McLaren, Canadian Trade Minister. Canada, along with Australia and the United States face an uphill battle for trade liberalisation. Japan has received support from China, Taiwan and Korea in non committal agreements on agricultural issues. 44 year old Japanese rice farmer Setsuo Takaku questions his government's aims. On one hand he says, the government says it will protect him, but on the other, he says it's giving in to foreign countries entering the rice market. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) "Year by year by year the percentage of imported rice is increasing and I feel anxious about it. I, as a Japanese farmer have to follow what the government says, I feel very anxious about the future." SUPER CAPTION: Setsuo Takaku, Japanese Rice Farmer While the politicians debate in what form APEC should proceed and how far its resolutions should go towards liberalising trade in the region, Japanese rice farmers remain unsure about a future that lies in the hands of politicians. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/07ead3ea43c6b28230ff9b1997322d7e Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork