U.S. TO ASK FOR SHARE OF JAPAN'S RICE MARKET

  U.S. Agriculture Secretary Richard
  Lyng said he will ask Japan to offer a share of its rice market
  to U.S. exporters when he visits that country next month.
      In an interview with Reuters, Lyng also said the Reagan
  administration will ask Tokyo to remove its quotas on U.S. beef
  and citrus exports.
      Lyng, who plans to be in Japan April 14-27, said he will
  not ask Tokyo to liberalize fully its rice market. "We will urge
  that they consider sharing their rice market," he said.
      The USDA secretary would not say how big a share of the
  Japanese rice market the U.S. would request. "We've got none of
  it now. If we got one per cent of it, it would be a big
  improvement," he said.
      Last year, the Reagan administration rejected a petition by
  the U.S. rice industry seeking relief from Japanese import
  restrictions.
      However, the U.S. said it would reexamine the issue if by
  mid-1987 Japan did not roll back import barriers to U.S. rice
  exports.
      Lyng said he would not be conducting formal negotiations
  next month with Japan over their beef and citrus quotas, but
  that his visit "may be a forerunner in a general way" to talks
  prior to expiration of the bilateral agreement in March 1988.
      He said, however, that the U.S. "will ask for a definite
  liberalization of those items (beef and citrus).... When you
  translate 'liberalization' into Japanese, it means do away with
  the quota."
  

