Japan's Minister of Agriculture: Accelerate the Procedures for Exporting Aquatic Products to China

According to Kyodo News, on June 30, the Japanese government stated that it will accelerate the procedures for 37 prefectures to resume exporting aquatic products to China. Given that China has lifted its comprehensive suspension of imports, Japan has taken action.

Japan's Minister of Agriculture, Koizumi Shinjiro, said, "To quickly and smoothly resume exports, we will take measures in a coordinated manner between the government and the private sector." If exports can be resumed, it will be approximately two years since the last resumption in August 2023. The prefectures maintaining the import ban are Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Niigata, and Nagano.

It is understood that to resume exports, domestic aquatic product companies in Japan need to reapply for the registration of facilities required for trade in China. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries plans to urge about 900 processing and manufacturing facilities to submit applications. In addition, Japanese authorities need to issue health certificates, radiation test qualification certificates, and origin certificates. It is expected to take some time before exports can begin.

On June 29, the General Administration of Customs of China announced that, given the continuous long-term international monitoring of the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water from Fukushima and China's independent sampling monitoring, with results showing no abnormalities, and under the premise that the Japanese government has pledged to ensure the safety of the quality of aquatic products exported to China, according to China's food safety laws and regulations and the principles of the World Trade Organization Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, to protect consumers' legitimate rights and interests, China has decided to conditionally resume the import of certain areas of Japanese aquatic products (including edible aquatic animals).

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake occurred off the coast of northeastern Japan, triggering a massive tsunami. Due to the dual impact of the earthquake and tsunami, a large amount of radioactive substances leaked from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. On April 13, 2021, the Japanese government officially decided to discharge the contaminated water from Fukushima after filtration and dilution into the sea. According to the plan by Tokyo Electric Power Company, the discharge of the contaminated water from Fukushima is expected to start in the summer of 2023, and the seawater discharge operation is expected to last for 30 years. This decision has been widely questioned and opposed by the international community, and also raised strong concerns within Japan.

On August 24, 2023, Japan started the first discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. That day, the General Administration of Customs of China issued an announcement, deciding to take emergency measures against aquatic products originating from Japan, and completely suspending the import of Japanese aquatic products from August 24 (inclusive).

China was once the largest export destination for Japanese aquatic products. According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the export value of aquatic products to China, including those for decorative purposes, was approximately 87.1 billion yen (about 4.3 billion yuan) in 2022 before the suspension, accounting for about 22% of the global total. However, in 2024, it dropped to about 6.1 billion yen, or around 2%.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1836405589173384/

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