TOKYO, April 11 — Japan’s agricultural exports dropped 4% year-on-year in February, a fall in eight months, hit by fewer working days due to a long Chinese new year holiday in exporting markets.
The exports of products such as agri-food, meat and seafood totaled 66.6 billion yen in February, data from the agriculture ministry showed.
The 4% decline in February exports was a disappointing performance, compared with a 35% jump in January.
Still, combining January and February, the nation’s agricultural exports rose 12% to 129 billion yen from the same period a year earlier.
Japan has set a target of 1 trillion yen in agricultural exports by 2020, and it needs a 10% annual growth rate in the next two years, if it wants to reach the target.
Shipments to Hong Kong, Japan’s largest farm exporting market, dropped 7% year-on-year in February to 17.5 billion yen. Exports to China fell 18% to 6.8 billion yen.