Japan will raise prices of the imported wheat it sells to domestic flour millers by 10 percent on average from October, adding to production costs for millers such as Nisshin Seifun Group Inc. and Nippon Flour Mills Co. Ltd.
The rise reflects an increase in world wheat prices, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said in a statement Friday.
The increase is the second gain in wheat-selling prices this year, after the ministry in April raised prices by an average 1.3 percent, the first increase since 1983. Japan imports wheat, barley and rice under a state trading system, and sells imported wheat to flour millers at a fixed price.
Chicago Board of Trade wheat prices, the global benchmark, rose to a record $7.54 a bushel Thursday as demand climbed for U.S. supplies and harvests were expected to shrink in major exporting countries, including Canada and Australia.