Best Answer: Trade barriers benefit Japanese farmers, especially those producing rice, milk for manufacturing, sugar beets and sugarcane, and wheat. Japan maintains tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) for some commodities, including:
-Rice and rice flour.
-Wheat and wheat flour.
-Butter and milk powder.
Imports outside the TRQs face high tariffs. Within some of the quotas, government-owned corporations have the sole right to import, and the imported commodities are resold into Japan's market with a high markup in price.
Japan's border policies also protect certain food processing industries. Strict government control over wheat, rice, dairy, and sugar products encourages processing of foods made from those commodities in Japan. Tariffs on vegetable oils make crushing margins high enough to sustain Japan's soybean and canola crushing industry. Despite the protection of flour milling, sugar refining, and butter and powder production, Japan's imports of processed foods and beverages have grown steadily.