Import Data News
- Deal signed to lift ban on Japanese rice imports
Date: 12-Apr-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
CHINA and Japan reached a formal agreement yesterday on China's lifting of its four-year ban on Japanese rice imports, paving the way for Japan to resume rice shipments to China in July.
Li Changjiang, director of the Chinese General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and Japan's Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka signed the rice trade resumption accord in Tokyo.
'It is very significant that Japanese rice, which is a symbol of Japanese agricultural products, will enter the Chinese market, and at a volume of 200 million tons,' Matsuoka told reporters after the signing ceremony.
The first shipment of 25 tons of Japanese rice is expected to hit the shelves of stores in Beijing and Shanghai in early July, Matsuoka said.
The signing came before a meeting between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later in the day in Tokyo.
With the bilateral trade dispute now resolved, the Japanese Government is hopeful that the country will boost its rice sales abroad and help revive its agricultural sector.
In 2003, China changed its quarantine system and banned imports of rice from Japan, claiming that new pests might be brought into the country with Japanese rice.
Since then, the two countries had discussed measures to be taken to ensure the safety of Japanese rice.
During Matsuoka's visit to China in January, the two countries agreed in principle that China will resume Japanese rice imports provided that the rice is milled and fumigated at facilities that meet the standards set by China.
Japan aims to triple its global exports of agricultural and fishery products from the current level to 1 trillion yen (US$8 billion) by 2013.
Japan is selling an increasing amount of rice to Taiwan and other areas. The total quantity, however, remained low at 858 tons worth 370 million yen in January through November last year.
Japan now hopes to target its rice particularly at wealthy consumers in China who are developing a taste for sushi and other Japanese dishes, in an effort to jump-start export growth.
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