Japan-based agricultural equipment maker Kubota will start exporting rice to Asia this year in a collaborative venture with the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (JA Zen-noh)
Kubota and JA Zen-noh have announced that they would aim for raising annual exports of around 10,000 tonnes of rice to Hong Kong and Singapore in the financial year starting April 2016.
The venture is aimed at expanding markets for Japanese rice producers who, in turn, are customers of Kubota.
Osaka-based Kubota already exports rice to Hong Kong and Singapore. In 2014, the manufacturer exported 890 tonnes from farmers in Yamagata and Niigata Prefectures. The tie-up with JA Zen-noh is set to boost exports by about 11-fold from that amount.
Kubota said that it would invest US$422,251 to US$844,502 in each of its existing subsidiaries in Hong Kong and Singapore to step up their rice polishing capacity and other functions in preparation for the tie-up.
