Category Archives: Trade Talks

TOKYO, Jan. 6 — Japan and China may soon set up a working group to discuss easing a ban on Japanese food imports imposed after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, informed sources have said. China is the No.4 export market for Japanese seafood and agriculture products, after Hong Kong, the United States and Taiwan. Yet, the ban has remained in place on all the food imports from 10 prefectures affected by the accident. They are Fukushima, Tokyo, Niigata, Nagano, Miyagi, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama and Chiba. Beijing also hasn’t resumed the importing of vegetables and fruits from other prefectures, according to Japanese officials. Experts say that the food … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Dec. 27 — Japan has stepped up efforts to make conditions for sanitary certification of livestock farms producing pork and poultry to meet requirements for exporting to the EU market. The government earmarked 400 million yen to facilitate agricultural exports in a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year ending in March 2018. The agriculture ministry will use the financial support for meat producers to test whether their samples have pesticide residues in excess of the EU’s allowable limits. The move coincides with the timing of Tokyo and Brussels aim to bring the trade agreement into effect in early 2019. Through the agreement, the EU will scrap tariffs on … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Dec. 23 — Japan’s Agriculture Minister Ken Saito has defended the estimates the government released on impacts of recently signed trade deals, saying he will continue explaining farmers with details. The government on Dec. 21 unveiled estimates of the impact on agricultural products from the two deals, namely the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) without the United States and the Japan-EU free trade agreement. Yet some experts raise criticism that the government underestimates the impact on the farming sector because the estimates were calculated with the condition that agricultural production volume would not be changed. “I don’t see any problem with the way it was calculated,” Saito said at a Dec. … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Dec. 22 — Japan’s agricultural production value will likely drop by up to 260 billion yen ($2.3 billion), once the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) without the United States and the Japan-EU free trade agreement take effect, government estimates have showed. The government on Dec. 21 unveiled estimates of the impacts on agricultural products, whose tariffs are above 10 percent, and domestic production value is more than 1 billion yen, in the two recently signed trade deals. It concluded that prices of domestic products may fall as the agreements slash tariffs on meat and dairy and other agricultural products that are sensitive to Japanese farmers. The TPP is likely to reduce … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Dec. 16 — The agriculture ministry has unveiled a final list of food names that will be protected under geographical indications (GI) in the recently agreed trade deal between Japan and the EU. The list aims to help farmers from both Japan and the EU to exclusively market their own products, but which the United States may call protectionism. GI is a rule that requires a product to come from a particular geographical area, and it must meet various quality criteria in order to be called by its name. Being granted GI status, it allows for regional producers to monopolize the use of famous area names, while other producers … Continue reading →