Japan plans to boost quality food exports to China and US
“Italy uses its food culture to drive food exports, and France is doing the same thing with wine,” said Katsunori Nakazawa, head of the export promotion division at the Agriculture Ministry.
“I want this for Japanese food as well. If our farmers don’t sell abroad, our agricultural industry won’t grow.”
The recipe seems pretty simple: better logistics, an advertising blitz and a splash of social media buzz using the tag #japanesefood — along with some lobbying of foreign governments.
Japan’s annual exports fell 6.9% in September, a 12th straight fall, the finance ministry said. Shipments of cars, electronics parts and steel all declined, while exports of food rose 7.6% from a year earlier.
In 2015, Japan’s food and marine products exports were worth 745.1bn yen (€6.6bn) according to China’s Agriculture Ministry, which is only 1% of total exports of 75.6tn yen.
Car exports were 10.4tn yen or almost 14% of total shipments, while semi- conductor and electronic parts brought in 3.9tn yen, about 5% of total exports.
Hong Kong is the top destination for Japan’s food exports, and a model of the potential Japan sees in increasing trade.
With just seven million people, the territory takes almost one-quarter of Japan’s food exports and supermarkets commonly stock wagyu beef, soba buckwheat noodles and scallops from Japan.
“I always have confidence in Japanese goods,” said Valerie, a 66-year-old retiree in Hong Kong, as she shopped in a Japanese supermarket.
“They will not export produce that are fake or harmful,” she said, touching on the qualities that Japan intends to leverage to increase its food exports.
The US is Japan’s second-biggest market for food exports, followed by Taiwan, mainland China and South Korea. The agriculture ministry said the top five destinations accounted for about 70% of food exports last year.
Scallops, salmon and trout are the top exports to China. Japan is to lobby Beijing to accept its beef, pork and dairy, and to lift import bans, in place since the Fukushima nuclear meltdown.
Rice exports to China are growing fast, so Japan plans to increase domestic processing plants authorised to ship to China.
In south-east Asia, Japan will lobby Malaysia to allow beef imports and get halal certification. The government also wants to sell more rice, fruit and green tea in Thailand and Vietnam.
Sales of sake rice wine and green tea to EU are booming; Japan plans a marketing push to raise awareness and to lobby EU countries that restrict beef imports.
The government is investing about €185m in targeted improvements to agriculture trade infrastructure, such as better storage facilities near airports and meat processing plants that will comply with foreign health standards.
