Agricultural, forestry and fishery products and food exports hit a record high of over 650 billion yen in the first half of the year

The export value of agricultural, forestry and fishery products and food from January to June this year exceeded 650 billion yen due to the recovery of demand for eating out mainly in Europe and the United States, as well as the effect of the weaker yen, reaching a record high for the first half of the year.

According to the announcement by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the export value of agricultural, forestry and fishery products and food from January to June this year was 652.5 billion yen, an increase of 13.1% compared to the same period last year, the highest ever for the first half of the year.

This was due to the normalization of economic activities affected by the spread of the new corona infection, mainly in Europe and the United States, the recovery in demand for eating out, the strong sales through the Internet, and the further depreciation of the yen.

By item, the largest increase in export value was for scallops, whose exports to the United States and China were strong, increasing by 67.8% to approximately 38.7 billion yen. 20.9 billion yen, and sake increased by 33.7% to about 23.3 billion yen.

Looking at exports by country and region, China was the largest with 120.1 billion yen, followed by the United States with 104.6 billion yen and Hong Kong with 91.7 billion yen.

Regarding exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products and foods, the government has set a goal of increasing the export value to 2 trillion yen by 2025.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, “The export value in the first half of the year was a record high, but the impact of the depreciation of the yen has placed a heavy burden on exporters due to rising costs of imported raw materials and transportation, so we will carefully monitor the impact.”

Source: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20220805/k10013754681000.html