China Partially Eases Ban on Seafood Imports from Japan; Permission Granted for 449 Marine Items from 37 Prefectures

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:46 JST, July 18, 2025

BEIJING — Chinese customs authorities have granted permission for the import of 449 fisheries items from Japan, such as scallops, tuna and yellowtail, it was learned Thursday.

The Japanese and Chinese governments have agreed to lift the import ban on Japanese seafood products for the first time in about two years.

Chinese customs has released a list of the items freed from the ban on its website.

The items allowed to be imported from Japan include shrimp, octopus, oysters, salmon and abalone. Procedures are underway for China’s resumption of seafood imports as Chinese customs authorities reregistered three Japanese fisheries companies on July 11.

However, the ban has only been lifted for seafood products from 37 prefectures. China imposed the import ban in August 2023 following the release of treated water into the ocean from Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The ban remains in place for seafood from 10 prefectures, such as Fukushima and Ibaraki, on which Beijing placed the ban in the wake of the nuclear accident at the plant in 2011.