TOKYO: The Japanese government aims to expand exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products and other food items by developing new markets for such products, it was learned Friday.

The plan was presented at the day’s meeting of related cabinet ministers at the prime minister’s office. The government also indicated a policy to push ahead with efforts to boost the supply of products expected to see higher export demand.

“It is necessary to carry out efforts to both expand demand and improve supply capability,” Chief Cabinet Secretary HAYASHI Yoshimasa, who chaired the meeting, said.

Despite China’s ongoing import ban on Japanese fishery products, Tokyo upholds goals to increase exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products and other food items to 2 trillion yen by 2025 and 5 trillion yen by 2030.

Specifically, the government hopes to spur consumption of Japanese foods overseas by offering culinary training to restaurants and retailers that have never used Japanese ingredients. It will also support the establishment of pre-packaged rice production and meat processing facilities which meet export destinations’ health standards and the expansion of organic tea production.

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry plans to include related expenses in its fiscal 2025 budget request.

Exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products and other food items in the first half of 2024 fell 1.8 percent from a year before to 701.3 billion yen mainly due to China’s fishery import ban, introduced in response to the start of Japan’s discharge into the ocean of tritium-containing treated water from the meltdown-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in August last year. At the current pace, Japan is unlikely to reach the government’s export target.

JIJI Press