At least 33 retailers have applied for the government's no-bid contract procedure to purchase stockpiled rice, the farm ministry said Tuesday, raising hopes of rice prices finally going down.
Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi said during a news conference that the ministry is planning to sign contracts with retailers that have applied by Wednesday and hand them the stockpiled rice as early as Thursday.
The retailers are set to receive a total of 157,073 metric tons, or about half of the 300,000 tons the government plans to release overall.
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