FINWIRES · TerminalLIVE
FINWIRES

Japan's Cooperative Rice Sales Fall in May

By

Farm cooperatives sold 1.32 million tons of 2025-harvest rice to wholesalers by the end of May, down 272,000 tons from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, 2025-harvest rice collections rose by 254,000 tons year over year to 2.671 million tons, while private-sector inventories surged by 740,000 tons to 2.23 million tons.

Retail prices have steadily dropped from their December peak of 4,416 yen to 3,590 yen per 5 kg by late June, following government stockpile releases, the Mainichi reported on Wednesday.

Related Articles

International

New Zealand Central Bank Expected to Hike Cash Rate by 25 Basis Points Next Week, ANZ Says

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) is likely to focus on risk management given current uncertainty, which should push it to raise the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.5% at a policy meeting next week, ANZ said in a Wednesday report.The official rate is still 75 basis points below the central bank's estimate of neutral, the New Zealand dollar is much softer than assumed, and inflation is poised to be above target for a while, which makes it "sensible to get a hike under the belt" despite a decline in oil prices, ANZ said.The RBNZ's plausible options include a hawkish hold and a neutral-to-dovish hike, but the latter would leave the monetary policy committee in a more comfortable position as New Zealand is likely to see very mixed data in coming weeks, ANZ said."To our mind, an OCR of 2.25% is too low to balance the risks around medium-term inflation," the bank said, adding that current market odds indicate a roughly 75% chance of a 25 basis point hike next week.

^NZ50
International

Hong Kong Exchange Fund's Total Assets Increase in May

The total assets of Hong Kong's Exchange Fund increased to HK$4.391 trillion as at May 31, up from HK$4.354 trillion at the end of April, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said Tuesday.Foreign currency assets rose by HK$39.8 billion in the month, driven primarily by interest income, mark-to-market revaluation of investments and government bond issuance proceeds, while Hong Kong dollar assets declined by HK$3.1 billion, due to a mark-to-market revaluation of Hong Kong equities, the release said.The monetary base at the end of May was steady at HK$2.072 trillion, it said.

Hang Seng
International

Singapore's Official Reserves Assets, Foreign Currency Reserves Swell in May

Singapore's official reserve assets rose to $430.1 billion in May from $427.3 billion reported a month ago, according to the International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity data released by the Monetary Authority of Singapore on Tuesday.Foreign currency reserves, in convertible foreign currencies, also rose to $416.9 billion in the reported month from $414.5 billion in April.The country's IMF reserve position slipped to $1.44 billion in May against $1.45 billion reported a month earlier.Meanwhile, gold reserves, including gold deposits and gold swapped, also rose to $4.90 billion from $4.39 billion in April.

^STI