Last year mainland China became the largest importer of Japanese food products for the first time. Until then, Hong Kong had been the longtime lead importer.
Exports of food, farm, forestry and marine products to mainland China increased by 35.2 %. Japanese sake, whisky and snack foods were among the most popular import items.
This increase helped Japan reach the goal of 1 trillion yen in food exports. The country’s food, agriculture, fishery and timber industries generated 1.23 trillion yen from exports.