The government has found that domestic farmers suffered a financial loss around the same time that imports of three agricultural products currently subject to emergency import curbs surged, but it has refrained from assessing whether the two factors are linked, government officials said Wednesday.

In its probe into the feasibility of imposing safeguard import restrictions on leeks, shiitake and tatami straw, the government also found that many wholesalers believe domestic prices for the products have fallen as a result of the surge in imports, the officials said.

The government unveiled the findings in a Liberal Democratic Party committee meeting, but refrained from making an assessment before the conclusion of the yearlong probe, due Dec. 21.

Japan invoked provisional emergency safeguards in April for 200 days ending Nov. 8. Whether to extend them to a full measure has been a topic of debate, but the government recently decided to negotiate the issue with China, where most of the imports originate.

Bilateral talks slated for Thursday in Beijing could involve hard bargaining, however, because both sides are expected to face difficulties in specifying the appropriate quantity of imports that can be tolerated by Japanese farmers.

According to the findings, the import share of stone leeks on the domestic market rose 1.4 percentage point to 9.6 percent in the January-March quarter over the 2000 average. The import share of shiitake gained 12.3 points, while that of tatami straw rose 9.2 points.

Domestic acreage for leek planting, meanwhile, is expected to shrink 3.5 percent this year from the year before.

Under World Trade Organization rules, countries are required to prove nine factors before invoking safeguard restrictions, including a rise in the import share, a decline in domestic output and a link between import surges and domestic hardships.

The Japanese temporary measures developed into a tit-for-tat trade spat as China in June retaliated by slapping 100 percent punitive tariffs on Japanese motor vehicles, air conditioners and mobile phones.

Zoellick slams Japan

WASHINGTON (Kyodo) U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick on Tuesday accused Japan of blocking global farm trade liberalization talks and called the Japanese trade policy "narrow-minded."

Zoellick unleashed a blistering attack on Japanese trade policies in the runup to next month's ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization in Qatar, where the international trade body hopes to launch a new round of global trade liberalization talks.

"I have been frankly extremely disappointed by the lack of Japanese -- gee, I wouldn't expect leadership, but even respectable followership," Zoellick said at a seminar on the WTO meeting, which opens in Doha on Nov. 9.

"It is, frankly, a disappointment for a country that has been able to grow and develop through international trade, whose future depends on international trade, to be acting, in my view, in such a narrow-minded fashion," he said.

Zoellick said the U.S. is making efforts to be flexible on the issue of antidumping rules, a politically sensitive issue in Washington. Japan, he said, is continuing to take a hardline position on agriculture trade, which is politically sensitive for Tokyo.

"While you know I have been willing to discuss the antidumping countervailing duty issues in a way that tries to work out something, the Japanese have just said 'no' to everything in the process," Zoellick said.

The Japanese government, frustrated by U.S. antidumping charges against a wide range of steel products from Japan, is seeking tighter rules for launching antidumping measures under the WTO.

Tighter rules on antidumping measures are expected to draw strong opposition from the U.S. industry and Congress.

The U.S., a major farm exporting country, is seeking an "ambitious" agenda on agricultural trade liberalization, but Japan is reluctant to accelerate market-opening efforts in this sector.

Zoellick said the Japanese government is suffering from "paralysis" and poses a threat not only to the domestic economy but to global efforts to launch the new trade round.

"There is a paralysis in Japan. It is a serious problem. I mean it's a serious problem in terms of the domestic problem. It's serious problem in terms of East Asia and the world economy and we are seeing it now," he said.

Zoellick warned against optimism about the launch of the new round at the WTO meeting.

"The last stages of our work will prove most difficult. I do not know whether we will succeed," he said.