Japan has long been on a mission to convince its trade partners to remove import restrictions placed on food products coming from the affected regions of Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Chiba, and has seen significant success over the past 13 years with about 90% or 49 out of 55 of these markets having done so.
Taiwan has been one of its toughest nuts to crack in recent years, not least due to what Japan has long viewed as political influences such as the ‘nuclear food referendum’ that took place back in 2018 and saw a failed bid to reinstate food imports from the affected areas.
Six years on, Japan has finally gotten Taiwan to fully reopen its doors to food imports, specifically removing the need to file radiation reports for specific products such as tea from Shizuoka and seafood from Iwate.
The decision has seen a warm welcome and rejoicing in the country especially given its recent drive to get ‘all restrictions’ lifted internationally.
“Taiwan has announced the relaxation of import restrictions on Japanese food products [so moving forward] all food products distributed in Japan will be available for export without barriers, including Shizuoka prefecture tea and Iwate prefecture seafood that previously required additional radioactive inspection reports,” Japan Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) Minister Satoshi Sakamoto said via a formal statement.
“We view this as very positive progress that will further support the recovery of the disaster-stricken areas.
“Moving forward, the government will continue to work persistently to ensure that import restrictions such as the requirement for certificates are lifted in all international markets as soon as possible.”
The Taiwanese Ministry of Health and Welfare made the announcement on September 25 2024 via the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (FDA), declaring that these changes would take effect immediately.
Notably though, although the radiation reports are no longer required, all food products from the five affected prefectures still require forms declaring the radiation levels and all Japanese food products need to be accompanied with a certificate of origin.
More hard nuts left to crack
Although this is certainly optimistic news for Japan given Taiwan’s previously staunch stance, the market still remains on its list of countries to reestablish full open trade relations with given the continued need for radiation declaration even without the need for reports.
As such, the number of markets that it still needs to work on remains at six, which are not only Taiwan but also China, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and Russia.
Progress has already been particularly slow with these markets, and has recently faced further challenges due to Japan’s decision to release treated nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima disaster into the ocean, which was met with hostility by markets such as China and Hong Kong.
This has in fact been acknowledged by MAFF itself, which stated on its website that: “China and other countries have further suspended the import of Japanese fishery products following the ocean release of Advanced Liquid Processing System or ALPS-treated water.”
Japan has maintained that its decision is in tandem with food safety standards and that all remaining import decisions are not scientifically accurate.
“We have been urging the countries and regions that continue to impose these import restrictions to immediately lift the restrictions in bilateral meetings and international forums,” said the ministry.
“All sectors of the government will continue to work together to strongly urge these markets to remove import restrictions that are not based on scientific evidence.”