BEIJING: China’s imports of fishery products from Japan plummeted about 70 pct from a year earlier to 20.74 million dollars in August, with the decline even accelerating from the previous month’s 33 pct, according to a monthly report released by China’s customs authorities on Monday.

The August result came as the Chinese government imposed a blanket ban on imports of Japanese fishery products after Japan began releasing tritium-containing treated water from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant into the sea on Aug. 24.

Beijing also announced a plan to impose penalties for violating the import ban.

Since around July, the Chinese government had been tightening import restrictions on Japanese fishery products over Japan’s plan to release the treated water into the sea.

In August, China’s overall fishery imports dropped 21 pct, as demand for fishery products is believed to have fallen due to Chinese media reports describing the treated water as nuclear contaminated.

JIJI Press