Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) made an announcement on August 10 that export values of agricultural, forestry and fishery products and foods for the first half of the year 2016 totaled 362.2 billion yen, 2.1 percent up over the same period of the previous year.
The total export of these products consists of 224.0 billion yen of agricultural products and foods, 10.7 percent up over the period of January-June 2015, 12.9 billion yen of forest products, 2.8 percent up, and 125.4 billion yen of fishery products, 10.2 percent down.
With regard to the commodity-wise export value, apples hit the biggest amount of 6.2 billion yen during the first half of 2016, 18 percent up over the same period of 2015, mainly thanks to stronger demands for the Japanese apples in Taiwan.
Exports of green teas totaled 5.3 billion yen, a 22 percent increase, while the consumptions in European countries and the United States considerably grew in the period. Exports of rice and Japanese beef also increased.
Due to the strong yen, however, the growth rate of the export values has been stagnating. More appreciation of the yen in coming months could be a barrier against the export growth of foods and products made by the primary sector of Japanese economy.