Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Japan, Asia's biggest wheat importer, deferred tenders to buy rice, wheat and barley until measures are taken to shield consumers from tainted products as the farm minister resigned over sales of contaminated foreign rice.

Grain contaminated with mold or pesticide will be destroyed or shipped back to the country of origin, Masaaki Okuhara, director general at the staple food department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said today in an interview. No date has been set for tenders to resume.

The Thai Rice Exporters' Association will ask the new government to lower the price-intervention level for main-crop rice in the upcoming harvest.

"Unless it reviews the current high price level used by the previous Samak Sundaravej regime, Thai rice exporters will have to go on a long holiday next year as they will not be able to compete with other rice-exporting countries," association president Chookiat Ophaswongse said.

The government currently buys white paddy rice from farmers at Bt14,000 per tonne as part of the market intervention programme, compared with the prevailing market price of around Bt12,000.

Chookiat said the country's rice trading system will be seriously damaged by such a price distortion.

Iraq has received 102,914 metric tons of U.S. hard wheat and 31,588 tons of Vietnamese rice, the Iraqi Trade Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

("Iraq Receives 102,914 Tons US Wheat, 31,588 Tons Thai Rice," published at 1104 GMT, misstated where the rice had come from.) 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

NEW DELHI, Sept 8 (Reuters) - India's government hopes to purchase 27.7 million tonnes of rice from farmers by the end of September, the chairman of the Food Corporation of India said on Monday.

"Rice procurement so far has been 27.2 million tonnes. We hope to purchase 500,000 tonnes more, which will be a record," Alok Sinha said. "It may ultimately touch 27.7 million tonnes by September-end." (Reporting by Rajkumar Ray)