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Supermarket owner Takashi Nakajima, 67, prepares sashimi, or raw fish, to sell at his store, near the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, in Soma, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, August 9, 2023. REUTERS/AKIKO OKAMOTO
Tokyo — Japan expects a “significant” effect from a seafood import ban by Hong Kong and Macau due to the upcoming release of treated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant, an official from the ministry of agriculture, forestry & fisheries said.
Japan is to start releasing more than 1-million tonnes of treated radioactive water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea on Thursday, more than a decade after the accident and amid harsh criticism from China.
China, the biggest importer of Japanese seafood, will take measures to protect its marine environment, food safety and public health, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Beijing has already banned imports from some Japanese regions.
In the latest set of measures, the Asian financial centre of Hong Kong and the gambling hub of Macau — both special Chinese regions — will ban aquatic product imports from 10 Japanese regions including Tokyo and Fukushima from Thursday.
The effect of the Hong Kong and Macau seafood bans could not be immediately calculated but would be “significant”, the official at the ministry of agriculture, forestry & fisheries said, declining to be identified due to the ministry’s policy.
China, also Japan’s top scallop buyer and a major consumer of sea cucumbers, imported ¥87.1bn ($600m) worth of Japanese seafood in 2022, or a fifth of Japan’s total seafood exports, according to the ministry of agriculture, forestry & fisheries data.
Hong Kong, Japan’s second-biggest seafood market after mainland China, which the ministry calculates separately, bought ¥75.5bn worth of seafood from Japan, the data shows. Japan seafood export data includes pearl exports.
While criticising the water release, China has allowed another nine companies from Russia — which shares some fishery areas with Japan in the Pacific — to export aquatic products, bringing the total number of allowed exporters to 894 firms, Russia’s food safety watchdog said on July 31.
Russia and China have questioned the Fukushima water release plan. Japan has said the feedback from the two was “unsupported by any scientific evidence”, adding that pollution levels in the water will be below those considered safe for drinking under World Health Organisation standards.
Japan’s top fishery lobby has said it feared reputational damage from the water release, which Japan says is safe and has been practised by other countries. The government would be ready to suspend the release if unusually high concentrations of radioactive materials are detected.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Hong Kong and Macau ban seafood from Japan
Tokyo — Japan expects a “significant” effect from a seafood import ban by Hong Kong and Macau due to the upcoming release of treated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant, an official from the ministry of agriculture, forestry & fisheries said.
Japan is to start releasing more than 1-million tonnes of treated radioactive water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea on Thursday, more than a decade after the accident and amid harsh criticism from China.
China, the biggest importer of Japanese seafood, will take measures to protect its marine environment, food safety and public health, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Beijing has already banned imports from some Japanese regions.
In the latest set of measures, the Asian financial centre of Hong Kong and the gambling hub of Macau — both special Chinese regions — will ban aquatic product imports from 10 Japanese regions including Tokyo and Fukushima from Thursday.
The effect of the Hong Kong and Macau seafood bans could not be immediately calculated but would be “significant”, the official at the ministry of agriculture, forestry & fisheries said, declining to be identified due to the ministry’s policy.
China, also Japan’s top scallop buyer and a major consumer of sea cucumbers, imported ¥87.1bn ($600m) worth of Japanese seafood in 2022, or a fifth of Japan’s total seafood exports, according to the ministry of agriculture, forestry & fisheries data.
Hong Kong, Japan’s second-biggest seafood market after mainland China, which the ministry calculates separately, bought ¥75.5bn worth of seafood from Japan, the data shows. Japan seafood export data includes pearl exports.
While criticising the water release, China has allowed another nine companies from Russia — which shares some fishery areas with Japan in the Pacific — to export aquatic products, bringing the total number of allowed exporters to 894 firms, Russia’s food safety watchdog said on July 31.
Russia and China have questioned the Fukushima water release plan. Japan has said the feedback from the two was “unsupported by any scientific evidence”, adding that pollution levels in the water will be below those considered safe for drinking under World Health Organisation standards.
Japan’s top fishery lobby has said it feared reputational damage from the water release, which Japan says is safe and has been practised by other countries. The government would be ready to suspend the release if unusually high concentrations of radioactive materials are detected.
Reuters
Japan’s plan to release treated Fukushima water
IAEA chief says none of Fukushima report experts raised issues with him directly
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