JAPAN-CHINA: Growing Food Imports Worry Tokyo

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, May 31 2001 (IPS) - Japan is gearing up for a “vegetable war” against Asia in a bid to protect the livelihoods of its own farmers, casting a worried eye on rising food imports from China.

The government announced last week that it is preparing to hold talks with China on a new emergency quota system it slapped against Beijing on Apr. 23 to curb the surging imports of dried mushrooms and leeks and ‘tatami’ rushes, used for floor matting that is popular in this country.

The talks will focus on Japan’s charging of tariffs up to 266 percent on Chinese produce under the new quota system. The new tariffs become effective after 200 days from Apr. 23.

Already, higher tariffs are being applied to some Japanese companies that import ‘tatami’ from China.

“Massive imports of vegetables have resulted in sharp falls in prices and Japanese producers are losing their spirit,” Yoshio Yastu, then minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries last month, said in defending the new quota system.

Local farmers say the volume of imported mushrooms rose 33 percent to 42,000 tonnes in 2000, and are one-tenth the price of their Japanese counterparts as a result of lower labour costs in China.

“There is no way we can compete with such low prices,” said Toshiro Hashinuchi, a farmer from a mushroom-growing area in Iwate prefecture, northern Japan.

Spring onion growers complain that their income dropped 14 percent between 1997 and 2000 as a result of cheap imports.

There are currently 14 items on the government list for safeguarding from imports.

The trade ministry reports that imports of fresh agricultural produce, mostly from Asia, reached more 930,000 tonnes in 2000. This accounted for 20 percent of the domestic fresh agricultural market, or 520 billion yen or 4.8 billion U.S. dollars.

The Japan External Trade Organisation reports Japan’s imports of food products in 2000 rose 3.9 percent from the previous year to 46.05 billion dollars, marking the second year of such an increase. Seafood topped the list, followed by vegetables.

The United States was the top seller to Japan with 12 billion dollars, followed by shipments by China worth 6 billion dollars, up 600 million dollars from the year before.

Imports from China, in particular, grew three-fold between 1997 and 2000. Analysts attribute the surge to improved technology as a result of investment by Japanese companies in China.

Analysts say the new import curbs reflect the emergence of new trade picture between Japan and Asia.

A white paper released by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry this year describes a new pattern in trade industry in East Asia — and says Asia has entered the era of megacompetition.

This, it says, ends the days of orderly economic development led by Japan.

The paper goes on to outline how the driving force behind the megacompetition in Asia is the growing economic power of China, accelerated by massive foreign investment in that country.

A ministry official explained that in the old days, Japan led the way with the high-technology products followed by East Asian countries and South-east Asia producing middle-to-low price product lines. China was at the bottom.

“But this is not the situation any more,” said the official, who declined to be identified. “Japan has lost the capability to revamp itself and instead chooses to dwell on its successful past experiences.”

The white paper also says it is necessary for Asian countries to prepare safety nets to handle the possible increase in joblessness brought by global competition.

Kenei Shu, an expert in Sino-Japanese relations at Toyo Galuen Univeristy, explains that imports from China now comprise 25 percent of Japan’s total imports.

Rising imports left Japan with a record 24.9 billion dollar deficit in its trade with China last year, an increase of 27 percent from the year before.

“China is fast replacing the United States as Japan’s biggest trading partner,” he explained, pointing out the need for Japan to develop closer ties with its close neighbour and historical rival for dominance in the region.

Indeed, statistics point out that some of Japan’s basic diet is now dependent on China or South Korea. For instance, 80 percent of seaweed consumed by the Japanese are from those countries.

Also, roughly half of ‘ume’ or Japanese apricot pickled into ‘umeboshi’, which is served with traditional dishes, are processed in China.

Japan’s increasing dependence for food on China is forcing the government to handle the upcoming trade talks with Beijing with increased care, says Shu. Japan must take care not to let the current agricultural issue flare into a regional dispute, warn analysts.