Tokyo- Japan and China signed a trade agreement Wednesday to resume Tokyo's rice imports to Beijing, Japanese media reported. After four years of ban, Japan was expected to make the first shipment of 25-tons of Japanese rice in July.
China banned rice imports from Japan in 2003, when it revised its quarantine system.
China agreed in January to accept rice from Japan on the condition that the product is milled and fumigated at plants that followed Beijing's guidelines.
As the two governments reached the agreement, Japan hopes to increase its rice sales abroad and to revive its agricultural industry.
The Wednesday's trade agreement came ahead of a visit by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao later in the day.
