Japanese farming co-op to cut prices via direct sales in China 
The National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations - a Japanese umbrella group for farming cooperatives and sole exporter of Japanese rice to China - will start selling rice directly in China this year, to cut out the middlemen who have sent retail prices surging. It plans to open a store in a Chinese city to sell products such as milled rice. China eats 20 times as much rice as Japan and imports five million tonnes annually. Last year, Japan exported just 375 tonnes of rice to China valued at $1.45m, due to strict safety requirements imposed on Japanese rice and prohibitively high prices at stores.
TOKYO -- The umbrella organization for Japan's farming cooperatives plans to start selling rice directly in China this fiscal year, seeking to cut out the layers of middlemen that have sent retail prices through the roof.

The National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations, or Zen-Noh, will open a store in a Chinese city to sell such products as milled rice and onigiri rice balls, with more locations to come later. The group is in talks to set up a joint venture with a Japanese company for this purpose. Zen-Noh is the sole exporter of Japanese rice to China.