Tokyo, April 27 - Japan is thinking of subsidising the production of rice flour to help boost its use as an alternative to costly wheat flour, the Nikkei business daily said on Sunday.
The Agriculture Ministry is considering submitting a new law to a regular session of parliament next year for this purpose, it said .
The ministry aims to eventually boost rice flour production to about 1 million tonnes, roughly equal to 20 percent of the nation's annual imports of wheat, the Nikkei said.
Wheat prices have roughly doubled over the past year, a cause of concern in Japan which must import about 90 percent of its demand for the grain.
But it grows enough rice domestically and has excess supply of the grain, even though Japan's overall food self-sufficiency level is below 40 percent, the lowest among the world's advanced economies.
Wheat is currently trading at around $8 per bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade.
Japan plans to buy a total 4.99 million tonnes of milling wheat in the current fiscal year to end March 2009, making it the world's fourth-largest wheat importer.
Rice prices elsewhere in Asia, where the grain is a staple in most countries, have almost trebled this year on fears of a possible supply shortage.
The price of the benchmark grade of rice in Thailand, the world's largest exporter, was quoted at $1,030-$1,080 per tonne on Friday.
Higher Asian rice prices have not influenced domestic prices of the grain in Japan, however, as it only imports rice to meet world trade obligations.