LYNG OPENS JAPAN TALKS ON FARM TRADE BARRIERS U.S. Agriculture Secretary Richard Lyng opens talks with Japanese government officials today well aware his demand for the opening of Japanese rice, beef and citrus markets is likely to be rejected. But in an interview with Reuters during the flight to Tokyo yesterday, Lyng said the goal of his trip was to throw an international spotlight on Japan's agricultural import protection in the hope pressure would build on Tokyo to open its markets. "(The Japanese) have said they are happy we are coming, but they are not going to give us anything," Lyng said. U.S. Officials do not expect any Japanese concessions during Lyng's two-week visit here. Any farm trade concessions would be unveiled later this month, they said. "If there is anything of consequence to offer (Prime Minister Yasuhiro) Nakasone would take it with him," when he visits Washington later in the month, one U.S. Official said. Lyng plans to ask Japan to open the door to rice imports by partially lifting the longstanding ban on foreign purchases. A private U.S. Rice trader visited Tokyo last week requesting Japan buy 200,000 tonnes of rice for industrial uses such as making sake. Japan has rejected the overture, saying Tokyo maintains a policy of self-sufficiency in rice. Lyng will also press Japan to eliminate an import quota for beef by April 1988 because he believes Japanese consumers would like to buy much more beef than currently allowed. He cited the example of a California company which transports live U.S. Cattle to Japan by air for slaughter to circumvent the beef quota. The cost of transport is higher than the value of the animal, he said. U.S. Officials said the Japan Livestock Industry Promotion Corporation which regulates beef imports, was forced to borrow from the fiscal 1987 quota earlier this year because the 1986 quota was exhausted and Japanese beef prices were rising. Japan has said it cannot open its markets to beef imports. Along with beef, the U.S. Will also press Japan to eliminate import quotas on fresh oranges and orange juice by April, 1988. Some U.S. Officials believe Japan may eventually be willing to scrap the quota on fresh oranges because liberalized trade would not necessarily damage the Japanese mandarin orange industry. The quota on juice may be harder to eliminate because imports might replace domestic produced juice, U.S. And Japanese officials have said. Lyng has resurrected a past U.S. Proposal that Japan buy surplus U.S. Foodgrains for donation to developing countries, but some U.S. Officials are skeptical action will be taken. Lyng will also urge Japan to put its domestic farm policies, including rice, on the negotiating table during GATT talks in Geneva. He said Japan must eliminate import quotas on certain minor food products or face possible U.S. Reprisals.