The stable supply of food has become a great problem for China. And with the economic disparities in recent years this problem is getting more complex. In short, with the economic development of China, the quantitative demand of food has transfered to the qualitative demand. With this background in mind, this study focuses on the vegetable retailers' purchasing activities in less-economically-developed inland China on three points of view: the amount, price and quality. The study concluded, first, that the large retailers purchase less from the wholesalers and have a shorter distribution route for vegetables. Second, although many retailers still prefer the vegetables which are cheaper, because of the gaining power and the expansion of the large-scale retail stores, more and more large retailers are emphasizing the quality of products over their price. As a result, it is clear that a polarization of retailer procurement activities is forming and progressing, between the retailers that value the quality and retailers that value the price.

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The Agricultural Cooperatives Group of Korea has been playing a very important role in the rice distribution and sales in Korea, just like the JA Group in Japan. However the rice business of the Agricultural Cooperatives Group of Korea is different in two points from that of JA Group. First, while the rice business of the JA Group is conducted as a joint business between JA (the primary cooperative in local area) and ZenNoh (the Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations), that is, rice is sold to consumers & buyers through the ZenNoh, each of the primary cooperatives of Koreas sell the their rice respectively. Second, in case of Japan, the transaction of rice between farmers and JA Group is consignment-sale. But that of Korea is basically purchasing-sale. This paper analyzes why agricultural cooperative groups in Korea have established a different rice business system from that of the JA Group of Japan in spite of the similar organization structure of agricultural cooperatives of the two countries and the problems facing the agricultural cooperative groups of Korea.

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The purpose of this paper is to clarify how farmers who produce tomatoes for processing on the contract basis evaluate the contract prices offered by processing firms. We analyze the management status of contract farmers and the contents of the contracts, using the data and information obtained through the intensive field survey for two major processing firms (A and B) and contract farmers (16 households) in two prefectures (C and D). It is found that presently, the firms and farmers share benefits of contract production in accordance with the contract content. However, because the processing firms hold a dominant power in pricing products, farmers are not fully satisfied with the contract price levels.

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This paper shows that export quantity of mushrooms by the Japanese Agricultural Co-operatives is decreasing. The feeling for the export of Japanese farm products rose nationwide. With this expansion, the activities of Japanese Agricultural Co-operatives and the farm product export businesses increased. However, all export areas cannot achieve export expansion. With increase of the export areas, the competition between them is intensifying in Japan. The production company is nominated for the mushroom export subject as well as the Japanese Agricultural Co-operatives. The production company transferred manufacturing technique to Taiwan at the same time to export its products. The Japanese Agricultural Co-operatives must continue to export for coordination of the domestic supply and demand. However, the competition with the production company pointing to production in Taiwan can be seen to have intensified.

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This paper investigates the actual conditions and problems in trade partnerships by using a case study, hoping to obtain results from an international perspective regarding "SANCYOKU" purchasing from overseas. The trade partnership was based on a 20-year alliance agreement between two partners. However, the trade partnership began weakening in 2006 because of chemical use and residues on the exported bananas. Furthermore, the Co-op did not maintain any communication with its producers, the partnership finally ended in 2009. We interpret this background from two aspects. One is the economical aspect: the sales figures have tended to decline these 10 years. Another aspect is the lack of basic activities to maintain relationships. Trade relationship activities can be considered valuable in the international trade and help in developing a food system that is consumer oriented.

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This paper focuses on the sales strategies by the Japanese food enterprises in China. The research is based on a questionnaire distributed to Japanese-food enterprises investigating the nature of such enterprises and clarifies the sales strategy conditions from the enterprise perspective. The findings are as follow. First, Japanese food enterprises begin sales in the China market based on a high quality and safety. Second, Japanese food enterprises established the marketing section of the China domestic sale specialty. It can be thought that the sales strategy in a domestic market by the Japanese-food enterprises in China will increase in future.

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Recently, because of increasing of bio-fuel demand, bio-diesel production in Southeast Asia, which has plentiful material crops like oil-palm, has been noted. In these countries, there are many vertical integrated models of the oil-palm plantation and bio-diesel factory. Previous studies show the advantage of a vertical integrated model of oil-palm production and bio-diesel factory, but none discuss this from the view point of corporate activity. It has been shown that if the transaction quantity of the goods is small, market transaction will have advantage rather than internal transaction. Actually, the transaction quantity of palm oil for bio-diesel production is small enough. Therefore, the question is whether the vertical integrated model (internal transaction) has an advantage for bio-diesel producing project. This paper reveals the actual conditions of bio-diesel industry in Indonesia based on corporate activity. The result shows that the integrated companies do not have advantage for material procurement, but they could utilize the export channel which already available. The synergy with existing business becomes the advantage of integrated companies. This paper suggests that integrated companies will hold high position in Indonesian bio-diesel industry. However, there is the doubt about the bio-diesel producing project in raw material producer country, in Southeast Asia, because there are no advantages of vertical integrated model for material procurement.

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Green tea trade between Japan and China has been changing from expansion into reduction from the latter half of 1990's to the present. This study discusses how to develop a "producing center of green tea export to Japan" in China, revealing how to respond to the decrease of exports. While the producing centers changed in order to guarantee the safety of the green tea along with export liberalization year by year, green tea export to Japan decreased in China after 2005. On the other hand, the market for green tea is expanding within China. Therefore, in the producing center, green tea productions are changing from for export trade to for domestic consumption.

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New varieties of ornamental plants are valued higher than other types of plants and increase the possibility of their export from Japan, an advanced country in plant breeding, to China and South Korea. However, the systems to control and protect plant breeders' rights in these countries have not yet been set in place like Japan. Plant breeders are hence apprehensive to export new varieties for fear their rights may be violated. In order to grasp the present condition of the protection of plant breeders' rights in East Asia, especially China and South Korea, we conducted a questionnaire survey for Japanese, Chinese, and Korean ornamental plant growers. Awareness of plant breeders' rights was compared between the three countries. The rate of recognition of the law for plant breeders' rights was highest in Japan (95.8%), followed by South Korea (87.3%) and China (62.0%). Although 81.9% and 88.5% of the growers in Japan and South Korea felt that the protection of plant breeders' rights was useful for the advance of floricultural business, the response rate in China was lower, at 55.6%. The difference in these attitudes towards plant breeders' rights relates to the developmental stage of the flower industry of each country. To develop adequate protection systems for plant breeders' rights, it is important to revise the law on the expansion of protectable varieties, and the quick examination system for registration of the rights. It is also necessary to develop awareness of plant breeders' rights in the marketplace through the practical efforts of breeders, growers, and all who are involved in the floricultural business, including the government.

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