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Slow Progress in Chinese Import of Rice from Japan
Export of rice to China, which the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) hopes to make a symbol of agricultural export promotion, shows little sign of realization despite passage of more than a year since application has been submitted. This is because China continues to use other issues as bargaining chips to delay procedural steps of quarantine to allow rice export from Japan, and the issue is in stalemate.
MAFF has a plan to double agricultural export level to 60 billion yen in the next five year period as part of their efforts to appeal Japan's agriculture overseas. MAFF calculates that if rice, the mainstay of Japanese agriculture, could be exported to a major neighboring consumption area, China, its export plan will get a boost.
China instituted in 2003 a new system to determine whether to authorize or refuse import of items it had not imported in the past, based on quarantine evaluations. Japan applied for an import approval in June 2004, submitting papers on rice disease and insect pests as well as measures to control them.
In response, China sent a mission to Japan for field inspection in
March this year, and observed paddy fields and rice mills. In April, they sent the director-general of the quarantine bureau to Japan who had talks with MAFF officials responsible for the plan. Japan responded to Chinese requests for additional information, and officials and rice industry representatives have made several visits to China for further talks.
According to MAFF, a stage has come when details of the conditions of quarantine for rice are to be discussed and finalized between the two countries. However, "China has proposed no concrete quarantine conditions," says an official of the Food Safety and Consumer Affairs Bureau, which means that negotiations for rice export are in suspension pending a reply from China.
Asked to comment about a year having elapsed since submission of export application, an official of the bureau said "While risk analysis should be cautiously conducted, it is also true that there are great expectations in our rice producing areas about exporting. As soon as we get a reply from China, we would make haste in providing for concrete conditions. "
It will be difficult to achieve export doubling without China. MAFF intends to continue steady negotiations on rice along with 10 other items such as peaches and strawberries which are on the way of procedural clearance.
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