TOKYO, Nov. 24 — Japan’s food exports have grown this year to a record level, thanks to the strong demand for Japanese wagyu beef, data from the finance ministry has shown.
Japanese total exports for food rose 5.4% to 568.3 billion yen in the nine months that ended September 30, 2017, compared to the same period the year earlier.
The beef exports in January-September jumped 44% to 1,715 metric tons, making up 90 percent of last year’s record exports of 1,908 metric tons.
Hong Kong, the top destination for Japanese beef, saw a 38% increase during the period.
Beef exports to the United States, which is Japan’s second-biggest market for food exports, rose 39 percent to 242 metric tons, despite reaching the low tariff in-quota of 200 tons.
Japanese beef exports were worth 12.3 billion yen in January-September, a 48% increase from the same period the previous year.
The Japanese government wants to increase agriculture exports and has set a target to boost the annual value of agricultural exports to 1 trillion yen by 2020.