INDIANAPOLIS — The U.S. will likely send less food to Japan in the coming weeks as damage from Friday's earthquake and tsunami makes shipping to some areas difficult and demand drops while people focus on emergency work, experts said.

It's unclear what Japan will need from America's bread basket in the longer term. The island nation with the world's third-largest economy is typically a top buyer of U.S. grains and meats. It buys more corn than any other country — nearly 600 million bushels last year to process into livestock feed — and is a top export market for soybeans, pork and California rice.

Despite photos from Japan of long lines and empty grocery stores, analysts said they weren't worried about a food shortage. Japan keeps large quantities of rice in reserve, and a U.S. Department of Agriculture statement said there was no urgent need for rice imports.

Only two of the 12 ports that handle bulk commodity shipments were damaged by the earthquake, aftershocks or tsunami, said Justin DeJong, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. However, many smaller ports in the country's Northeast region were severely damaged, he said.

The rolling blackouts the Japanese government has imposed to conserve power amid its nuclear crisis could affect seaports' ability to unload cargo shipments and some ships might head elsewhere to drop off their goods, said Paul Bertels, vice president of production and utilization for the National Corn Growers Association.