Economy

Japan’s Hopes for Seafood Exports Shot Down in China Spat

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Workers load the day’s catch of scallops onto a truck in Yubetsu, Hokkaido, in August 2024.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:59 JST, November 20, 2025

Exports of Japanese marine products to China have hit another snag, just days after they resumed this month for the first time in about two years.

Apparently, this is a response to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Diet remark about a Taiwan contingency and looks to deal a blow to the Japanese government’s efforts to expand exports.

The Chinese government banned all imports of Japanese marine products in 2023 following the release of treated water from the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. In May, the Japanese and Chinese governments agreed on procedures for resuming exports, and in June, China announced it would resume imports of marine products from 37 prefectures, including Hokkaido and Aomori. On Nov. 5, six tons of frozen scallops from Hokkaido were shipped to China.

Japanese fishery businesses that were approved for exports prior to the treated water release can resume shipments once they reregister as exporters with Chinese authorities, according to the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry. While 697 businesses have applied for registration to restart exports, only three in Hokkaido and Aomori have succeeded so far.

China was once Japan’s largest export destination for marine products. Of the ¥387.3 billion in seafood that Japan exported in 2022 before the treated water release, exports to China stood at ¥87.1 billion, or 20% of the total. Major exports included scallops, accounting for ¥48.9 billion, and sea cucumbers, at ¥9.8 billion.

After China’s ban, Japan diversified its buyers abroad, selling to Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam and Thailand.

“Scallop exports to the United States and Southeast Asia are going well, so there is little impact at present,” said an Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry official.

However, Japan aims to increase exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products and food to ¥5 trillion by 2030, and the Chinese market, with its population of about 1.4 billion people, holds immense appeal.

“The Chinese market is indispensable for achieving this target,” a source close to the government said.