Low self-sufficiency rate stays put in Japan for fifth year

Japan’s food self-sufficiency rate has remained stubbornly static, at 39% for the fifth consecutive year—and a long way behind the government target of 45%, which was recently lowered.

According to farm ministry data, the rate remained unchanged as an increase in domestic output of wheat and soybean was offset by a decrease in demand for rice, the country’s biggest staple.

The food self-sufficiency rate, which is based on a calorific intake, was lowered from 50% in March, with the government arguing that the higher rate was “unachievable”.

Per-capita rice consumption fell 1.7kg this year to a record-low 55.2kg. The shortfall in turn pushed down the self-sufficiency ratio by 0.2 percentage points from the previous year.

Consumption of import-dependent food oil also increased on the back of rising demand in the food service industry, lowering the sufficiency rate by 0.2 points. 

“We will aim to achieve the [45 percent] goal by expanding domestic farm production to meet the diversified needs of consumers​,” said farm minister Yoshimasa Hayashi.

Japan has one of the lowest food self-sufficiency rates among major economies. In 2011, the rate in Australia was estimated at 205%, though the equivalent rate was the same in neighbouring South Korea because of a lack of farmland there.

The rate has been on the decline in Japan due to the drop in rice consumption and the westernisation of the country’s diet which has pushed up consumption of imported meat and wheat.

More whispers that Taiwan might allow imports from stricken Japanese areas​

Taiwan’s ban on food imports from certain Japanese prefectures will be lifted, according to the island’s foreign minister.

However David Lin said the time this will take depends on a health review of agricultural land in the areas around the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear reactor, which reached nuclear meltdown in 2011.

"I believe we're moving in that direction​," Lin said in Taipei. "To date there have been no safety concerns associated with food products imported from Japan​.”

The Ministry of Health and Welfare is further assessing the situation with reference to how other countries have been dealing with the situation.

"The vast majority of countries are moving toward lifting restrictions, but we still hope that the [ministry] can give a clear explanation of its further assessment at an appropriate time.”

South Korean kimchi exports to China might be in less of a pickle​

South Koreans are holding their breath as China considers whether to remove kimchi’s classification as a pickled food product—a move that would prompt the return of its fermented cabbage trade to the peninsula’s biggest export partner.

A new free-trade agreement between the two countries could now pave the way for a potential change of category. When China, which floods the Korean market with cheap kimchi, reclassified kimchi as a pickle, the decision sealed an end to reciprocal trade as the Korean favourite does not meet tough Chinese import regulations.

The subject became such a sore point that kimchi was left out of important trade talks with China for years, the New York Times reported recently.

Bilateral trade between China and its neighbour now totals US$235bn a year, according to figures from the Korea International Trade Association.

Under the terms of the June trade agreement, both countries will scrap tariffs on more than 90% of goods, including medical equipment, electronics and kimchi, over the next 20 years.