Japan’s exports of food and other products fell in the first half of this year, largely due to China’s suspension of Japanese seafood shipments.
The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said the total value of these exports stood at 701.3 billion yen, or about 4.7 billion dollars, down 1.8 percent from the same period last year.
Bright spots included rising shipments of matcha green tea powder and condiments such as curry pastes and mayonnaise, mainly due to their popularity in the United States and Europe.
Overall exports to China plunged 43.8 percent. Beijing shut out imports of Japan’s marine products in August last year, in a move aimed at protesting Japan’s release of treated and diluted water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean.
Shipments of scallops to China dropped to zero from 22.3 billion yen, or roughly 149 million dollars, a year earlier. The Japanese government is encouraging scallop exporters to find markets in other countries, such as the US and Vietnam, but these efforts have not offset the gap and Tokyo wants Beijing to lift its policy.
Japanese Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Sakamoto Tetsushi said, “We will urge China and others to immediately remove restrictions that are not based on scientific evidence.”
Japan hopes to increase exports of food items as well as agricultural, forestry and fisheries products to 2 trillion yen, or about 13.3 billion dollars, by 2025.