Global trade talks collapsed July 29 due mainly to an impasse between industrial and developing countries.

The failure made it impossible for WTO members to acheve their goal of concluding the talks by the end of the year, a Japanese official said.

The failure allows Japan to put off accepting greater foreign access to its heavily protected farm market, but the country remains under pressure to play a role in advancing trade liberalization.

Japan is finding it difficult to hold out against the proposed target of 4 percent that each wealthy nation will be allowed to designate as sensitive farm products to shield them from steep tariff cuts, sources said.

To what extent Japan can secure the volume of sensitive farm products, including rice, wheat and sugar, was its priority in the marathon talks that started July 21.

Masatoshi Wakabayashi, agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister, repeatedly said after arriving in Geneva that Tokyo wanted at least 8 percent of all farm products to be exempt from sharp tariff cuts.

Before leaving Japan, he even said he couldn't return home with a figure of 6 percent.

A revised text for farm negotiations, released before the ongoing ministerial meeting states that 4 percent to 6 percent of all farm products in developed countries will be exempt from substantial tariff cuts.

Wakayabashi said July 27 at the WTO that he no longer had a chance of achieving the 8 percent target.

The collapse of the talks, however, means that Japan's agricultural sector will enjoy protection for the forseeable future.