Tokyo - The Japanese government plans to return imported rice to exporting nations if it is found to be inedible, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Seiichi Ota said Friday.

Japan's decision followed recent cases in which a Japanese company sold rice imported from other nations, including Vietnam, China and Thailand, that was tainted with mould or contained pesticide beyond a legal limit for edible use.

The firm bought the rice from the Japanese government for industrial use but sold it to make sake rice wine, distilled liquor or sweets.

Manila - The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) said Tuesday it has received a donation of 500,000 dollars worth of materials that would boost research for cheaper and high-yielding rice varieties.

The Philippines-based institute said the donation pack from 5 PRIME, a Germany-based biotechnology company, includes technologies and reagents for DNA isolation, amplification and molecular analysis.

Hanoi - Vietnam waived an export tax on rice and ordered the state rice cartel to boost purchases in an effort to raise sales abroad and reduce a surplus that has hurt farmers' incomes, officials said Friday.

A decree issued Thursday by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung orders Vietnam's state-owned food companies, which control the country's rice exports, to buy between 400 and 500 thousand tons of rice in August, and "to make sure that farmers make profits of 40 per cent or more."