News: Japan buys 81,442 tons of food wheat via tender

TOKYO, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) bought a total of 81,442 metric tons of food-quality wheat from the United States and Canada in a regular tender that closed on Thursday.

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. Details are as follows (in metric tons): COUNTRY TYPE QUANTITY

 U.S.	  Dark Northern Spring(protein minimum 14.0 pct)   11,851	 * 
 U.S.	  Western White									13,781	 * 
 U.S.	  Hard Red Winter(Semi Hard)					   27,930	 * 
 Canada	Western Red Spring(protein minimum 13.5 pct)	 27,880	 * 
	Shipments: * Loading between Oct 1 and Oct 31			   

Source: MAFF