Meiji Dairies and Meiji Seika in merger talks-NHK

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TOKYO, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Japanese dairy goods maker Meiji Dairies Corp (2261.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and chocolate producer Meiji Seika (2202.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) are in final stages of merger talks to create a food company with over 1 trillion yen ($9.3 billion) in revenue, public broadcaster NHK said on Tuesday.

The report came as Japan's food firms are struggling with rising fuel and raw materials costs and under pressure to pass them on in their prices, while they face a slowdown in consumer spending and mature market at home.

Officials at both Meiji Dairies and Meiji Seika said the report was not based on something the companies announced and declined to comment further.

Meiji Dairies, which has market capital of 202.1 billion yen, had revenue of 707 billion yen for the year ending in March 2008.

Meiji Seika, with market capital of 195.5 billion yen, had revenue of 404.7 billion yen for the year to March 2008. (Reported by Nathan Layne and Taiga Uranaka)