Japan's agricultural exports climb 21.8 pct in 2015

Japan's exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products increased 21.8 percent from a year earlier to 745.2 billion yen (6.15 billion U.S. dollars) in 2015, the government said Tuesday.

The figure rose for a third successive year, hitting a record high, with exports helped by a comparatively weak yen and eased import restrictions in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear crisis in 2011 over radiation concerns, according to a preliminary report of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

Exports to Asian nations were brisk in the recording year, the ministry said, as were those to the United States, with data showing that Hong Kong imported 179.4 billion yen's worth of products, followed by the United States, China's Taiwan and the Chinese Mainland.

The ministry said that a growing demand overseas for Japanese food items helped boost products shipped, with agricultural products, including processed foods, leaping 24.2 percent to 443.2 billion yen and fishery products increasing 18 percent to 275.7 billion yen.

Forestry products, meanwhile, logged a rise of 24.8 percent to 26.3 billion yen, in the recording period, the ministry said.

Japanese sake, saw exports jump 21.8 percent to 14 billion yen, soy sauce exports gained 19.5 percent to 6.2 billion yen, while the value of rice exports surged 56.4 percent from a year earlier to 2.2 billion yen, the ministry's data showed. Enditem