Japan is looking for new export markets after China’s ban on seafood imports. China was previously Japan’s largest seafood export market. But in August last year, China imposed a ban on the import of seafood from the country in the wake of the release of radioactive water from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.
To overcome this negative impact, the country is looking for alternative markets for seafood exports in the United States, Asia and some European countries. Japan External Trade Organization Chairman Norihiko Ishiguro confirmed this information to Reuters.
In the first half of this year, Japan’s exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products fell for the first time since 2020, Reuters reported on Tuesday. During this period, the country’s exports to China decreased by 43.8 percent. Exports of snails alone fell by 37 percent.
Ishiguro said, “We have not yet fully recovered from the damage caused by China’s suspension of imports. However, seafood exports are increasing in the United States, Canada, Thailand and Vietnam.
He said that government-supported trade organizations are promoting the creation of new commercial channels in various countries in Asia, the United States and Europe. It is not impossible to overcome the influence of Beijing’s sanctions.
According to official data, Japan exported 87.1 billion yen worth of seafood to China in 2022. The following year it fell to 61 billion yen. And in the first half of this year, it fell to only 3.5 billion yen.