Corn costs rising in Japan***

TOKYO, May 19 (Bloomberg): Corn costs in Japan, the biggest importer, are rising after shipping fees increased because of concern over nuclear radiation, boosting expenses at animal-feed makers and potentially helping meat sales by Tyson Foods Inc (TSN). Importers need to pay about 5 per cent more to ship corn from the US Gulf to ports in eastern Japan compared with the west on concern vessels may be tainted by radiation leaking from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi power station, said Nobuyuki Chino, the president of Tokyo-based grain company Continental Rice Corp. Corn more than doubled in Chicago in the past year and climbed to the highest since 2008 as global supplies failed to keep pace with demand. That helped drive up world food costs by 36 percent to near a record in April, according to the United Nations, prompting central banks from Beijing to New Delhi to increase interest rates. For feed makers in Japan, the higher shipping fees make ingredients more expensive. "Freight operators are still showing an aversion for eastern Japan," said Hideo Harada, director for livestock policy planning at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, in an interview in Tokyo.