Japan’s LDP to submit proposals on farm export expansion

TOKYO, March 24 — Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has been drawing up a package of proposals to meet the government’s target of 1 trillion yen in annual agricultural exports by 2020. The LDP’s committee that deals with agricultural exports held a meeting on March 23. It brought stakeholders interested in exporting to the table to help the committee focus on the issues. That included Mitoku Co., a trading company specializing in bio products, and Maruyama Tea Products Corp., a Shizuoka-based tea maker. During the meeting, agriculture ministry officials pointed out several key issues: ensuring that Japanese products are recognized for high safety standards; making supply chains work for … Continue reading

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Fukuoka research team develops dual temperature zone container to be tested for fruit and vegetable exports to Hong Kong

FUKUOKA, April 3 – A research team in Fukuoka Prefecture has developed a dual temperature zone container for shipment of fruit and vegetables, which will be tested to export Japanese farm produce to Hong Kong starting later this year. The container can be divided into two compartments of equal size with temperature gap of up to 20 degrees centigrade, enabling shipment of chilled cargo and frozen cargo together in one container, reducing the risk of damaging temperature-sensitive products. The container also comes with a plasma generator to keep the products fresh. Developers hope the containers will pave the way for mixed-load, small-lot exports of high-quality Japanese produce. A research team … Continue reading

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Japan’s Kindai University to offer IPR program on agriculture

TOKYO, April 1 — Japan’s Kindai University is to offer an agribusiness program on intellectual property rights related to food products at its agriculture faculty from September. The program is a first attempt by the agriculture ministry to collaborate with a university on this subject. The ministry hopes investing in education on IPRs may help prepare a new generation to lead Japan’s agriculture industry. The move comes at a time when theft of Japanese agriculture breeds is hurting the nation’s exports. In 2015, Japan set up its GI system to guarantee the protected status of food products, helping farmers to differentiate their products from competing products in the market. Moreover, … Continue reading

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TPP-11 nations didn’t agree to keep revised TPP secret: official

TOKYO, April 4 — Contrary to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), whose texts won’t be made public for some time, the remaining 11 members have not been asked to sign an agreement promising to keep the revised trade pact secret. “There is no such agreement among the TPP-11 members,” Japan’s director-general for the TPP, Kazuhisa Shibuya, told the upper house agriculture committee on April 3. “But you should not be surprised that this is essentially the same as the context for practicing regular diplomacy, we do not to disclose any documents for some time,” he added. In the original TPP, the trade agreement text will be kept secret for four years … Continue reading

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Japan distributes wagyu beef guidebooks for overseas visitors

TOKYO, March 29 — The Japan Livestock Products Export Promotion Council (J-LEC) has stepped up efforts to expand exports of Japanese wagyu beef as the meat is gaining global popularity. The group has published guidebooks on Japanese wagyu beef in English, and Cantonese as well as Japanese. The guidebooks were set to distribute to hotels across the country from April. The guidebooks include some recipes that use Japanese wagyu beef, “so that overseas visitors can enjoy the rich taste and fine texture of wagyu beef when they return home,” said a J-LEC official. The group has also produced promotional videos on Japanese wagyu beef to be aired for passengers on … Continue reading

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