LYNG OPENS JAPAN TALKS ON FARM TRADE BARRIERS
  U.S. Agriculture Secretary Richard Lyng
  opens talks with Japanese government officials today well aware
  his demand for the opening of Japanese rice, beef and citrus
  markets is likely to be rejected.
       But in an interview with Reuters during the flight to
  Tokyo yesterday, Lyng said the goal of his trip was to throw an
  international spotlight on Japan's agricultural import
  protection in the hope pressure would build on Tokyo to open
  its markets.
      "(The Japanese) have said they are happy we are coming, but
  they are not going to give us anything," Lyng said.
      U.S. Officials do not expect any Japanese concessions
  during Lyng's two-week visit here. Any farm trade concessions
  would be unveiled later this month, they said.
      "If there is anything of consequence to offer (Prime
  Minister Yasuhiro) Nakasone would take it with him," when he
  visits Washington later in the month, one U.S. Official said.
      Lyng plans to ask Japan to open the door to rice imports by
  partially lifting the longstanding ban on foreign purchases.
      A private U.S. Rice trader visited Tokyo last week
  requesting Japan buy 200,000 tonnes of rice for industrial uses
  such as making sake. Japan has rejected the overture, saying
  Tokyo maintains a policy of self-sufficiency in rice.
      Lyng will also press Japan to eliminate an import quota for
  beef by April 1988 because he believes Japanese consumers would
  like to buy much more beef than currently allowed.
      He cited the example of a California company which
  transports live U.S. Cattle to Japan by air for slaughter to
  circumvent the beef quota. The cost of transport is higher than
  the value of the animal, he said.
      U.S. Officials said the Japan Livestock Industry Promotion
  Corporation which regulates beef imports, was forced to borrow
  from the fiscal 1987 quota earlier this year because the 1986
  quota was exhausted and Japanese beef prices were rising. Japan
  has said it cannot open its markets to beef imports.
      Along with beef, the U.S. Will also press Japan to
  eliminate import quotas on fresh oranges and orange juice by
  April, 1988. Some U.S. Officials believe Japan may eventually
  be willing to scrap the quota on fresh oranges because
  liberalized trade would not necessarily damage the Japanese
  mandarin orange industry.
      The quota on juice may be harder to eliminate because
  imports might replace domestic produced juice, U.S. And
  Japanese officials have said.
     Lyng has resurrected a past U.S. Proposal that Japan buy
  surplus U.S. Foodgrains for donation to developing countries,
  but some U.S. Officials are skeptical action will be taken.
     Lyng will also urge Japan to put its domestic farm policies,
  including rice, on the negotiating table during GATT talks in
  Geneva. He said Japan must eliminate import quotas on certain
  minor food products or face possible U.S. Reprisals.
  

