Asia

Japan's Seafood Exports to China Dive 75.7% Over Fukushima Water Release

TOKYO (Sputnik) - China's seafood imports from Japan decreased by 75.7% in August year-on-year after Beijing introduced a blanket ban on Japanese marine product imports in response to the Fukushima wastewater release, Japanese news agency Kodo reported, citing updated data from the Japanese Finance Ministry.
Sputnik
Imports in August totaled 2.18 billion yen ($14.6 million). Earlier in September, media reported a 67.6% drop in China's seafood imports from Japan last month, citing preliminary customs data.
China is the biggest importer of Japanese seafood, having shipped 87.1 billion yen worth of these products in 2022. In July, China slashed imports of Japanese marine products by a third.
The decline is attributed to China's ban on imports and processing of Japanese fish and seafood, slapped after Tokyo started releasing water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean despite Beijing's objections.
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On August 24, Japan began dumping treated waste water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean after diluting it with seawater. Tokyo said that the water had been cleaned of all radionuclides except tritium, which was still within acceptable limits. Beijing described the discharged water as "contaminated," while Tokyo vowed to use tools under the rules of the World Trade Organization to respond to China's seafood import ban.
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