TOKYO, Aug. 2 ― Japan’s largest farmers’ group has opened its marketing base in Taiwan to boost Japanese farm and food exports.
This is the fifth overseas base for the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Association (JA ZEN-NOH). The marketing arm of JA group has export hubs in the U.S., the U.K., Singapore and Hong Kong.
Taiwan is No. 3 destination for Japanese agricultural exports, after Hong Kong and the U.S. Shipments of Japanese farm exports to Taiwan totaled 65.4 billion yen in 2017, accounting for 13 percent of the total food exports.
Taiwan is the biggest buyer of Japanese apples, but it also emerged as the top destination for the Japanese beef after the Asian neighboring country lifted a 16-year ban on imports from Japan last September.
Beef shipments to Taiwan totaled 2.2 billion yen, accounting for about 20 percent of the total Japanese beef exports.
The JA group exported 16 billion yen of Japanese produce in 2017. It aims to double the figure, or 34 billion yen, in 2019. The group is now considering setting up a marketing base in mainland China.