Category Archives: Food & Agriculture

TOKYO, July 28 ― Japan’s meat imports in the first half of 2018 broke the 1 million metric ton barrier for the first time in 20 years, as consumers tend to satisfy their growing demand through more cheap imports, data has showed. Imports of red meat and poultry rose 2% to 1.02 million metric tons in the January-June period from the same period a year earlier, the finance ministry said on July 27. That import figure was the highest since records began in 1988, except in 1996 when the country’s meat tariffs were reduced by the Uruguay Round agreement. By product, both pork and chicken imports marked a record high … Continue reading →

TOKYO, July 25 ― Japan is finally set to make a further step to tackle for its chronical labor shortage: accepting more low-skilled foreign workers. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told labor-related ministers to speed up plans that bring in more low-skilled foreign workers to Japan at a July 24 meeting. Agriculture Minister Ken Saito attended the meeting. In June, the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, chaired by Abe, approved a set of labor policy. That includes creating a new working visa status for non-professional foreign workers in five sectors by April 2019. The five sectors, which have been suffering from chronic labor shortage, are farming, construction, accommodations, ship-building and … Continue reading →

TOKYO, July 21 ― Hong Kong is set to relax some import restrictions that have been in place on Japanese foods following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, according to the Japanese government. From July 24, Hong Kong will resume imports of fruits, vegetables, milk and dairy products from four prefectures neighboring area of Fukushima, on condition that they pass radiation tests, Japan’s agriculture ministry said. The move comes after the World Trade Organization (WTO) in March backed a Japanese complaint against South Korea’s import ban on seafood as well as additional testing requirements on agricultural foods. In the wake of the earthquake and nuclear disaster in 2011, like South Korea … Continue reading →

TOKYO, July 16 ― Japan has raised a nationwide alert on livestock infectious diseases, as a growing number of overseas tourists in the summer holidays may have dire consequences on the country’s farm industry. In recent years, cases of livestock infectious diseases, such as food-and-mouth disease and African swine fever, have been recorded across the globe. Foot-and-mouth disease virus causes a highly contagious acute vesicular disease that affects cloven-hoofed livestock including cattle, camels, goats, sheep and pigs. It can cause high fever as well as blisters inside the mouth and on the feet and spread very quickly if it is uncontrolled. Meanwhile, African swine fever occurs among pigs and wild … Continue reading →

TOKYO, July 15 ― Japan’s falling dairy herd has bottomed out for the first time in 16 years, official data has showed. The number of dairy cows as of February 1, 2018 was 1.32 million head, up 0.4% from a year earlier, according to the agriculture ministry. That was mainly because the number of female heifers has picked up in Hokkaido prefecture, the country’s major dairy supplier.