A new agreement was made between Japan and Russia. (image via NPR)

Japan to Let Russia Imports Chicken

Previously Japan has an import ban for chicken and other poultry from other countries. This is done over concerns about infectious disease. However, Japan revealed that they will lift the ban to Russia soon.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a meeting in Osaka. The meeting was held on Saturday and it is the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit. One of the issues that were discussed in the meeting is about the import ban. The two then made an agreement to lift the ban as a part of a broader accord to expand bilateral trade in meat. It is also revealed that the agreement is another step to the post-World War II peace treaty.

However, the deal is not only about importing chickens from Russia, but they also had an agreement to increase the Russian purchases of Japanese wagyu beef. In addition, Russia will also export other types of meat such as sausages for the Japanese market. It is planned that the ban will be lifted in 2020, the earliest.

There is also a condition stated by Abe. The condition is that, the chickens will only coming from Tula and Bryansk oblasts, which located at the south of Moscow.

In 2017, it is reported that Japan imported about 560,000 of fresh chicken. 70% of them came from Brazil and 20% came from Thailand.

Source: https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Japan-to-lift-ban-on-Russian-chicken-imports