TOKYO -- Japan's Ministry of Agriculture skipped buying food quality wheat via a regular tender this week because of a custom of not conducting tenders in the first week of the new fiscal year starting April, as well as in the first week of a calender year.
Regular tenders for this month are planned to start the following week, an official at the bureau said on Tuesday.
Japan, the world's sixth-biggest wheat importer, keeps a tight grip on imports of the country's second most important staple after rice and buys the majority of the grain for milling via tenders typically issued three times a month.
