Japan's seafood industry getting creative as Chinese import ban continues

Japan’s seafood exports to China plummeted in 2023, dislocating the country’s ambitious plans for export growth. In response, the Japanese government and seafood industry have scrambled to quickly find new markets and processing channels.China imposed a total ban on seafood imports from Japan in August 2023 following Japan’s discharge into the ocean of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant; limited exports to Hong Kong have continued.As a result, in fiscal year 2023, Japanese seafood exports to China plummeted 57 percent from the previous year – from JPY 74.6 billion (USD 474.8 million, EUR 437.5 million) to JPY 32 billion (USD 203.7 million, EUR 187.6 million). Japan's overall exports in the seafood category, which includes not only fish and shellfish but also pearls, coral, and ornamental fish, fell 17 percent from FY 2022 to JPY 218.5 billion (USD 1.39 billion, EUR 1.28 billion) in FY 2023. The U.S. also overtook China as Japan’s biggest seafood ...