U.S. Lifts Import Restrictions On Japan Farm Products

The United States has lifted all of its restrictions on imports of food products from Japan established in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan's farm ministry said, Kyodo News reported.

Photo Insert: Rice grown in Fukushima

Under the restrictions, US imports of a total of 100 agricultural products produced in 14 Japanese prefectures including Fukushima had been suspended. The other 13 prefectures were Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Yamagata, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Niigata, Yamanashi, Nagano and Shizuoka.

Japanese farm products now cleared for shipping to the United States include rice harvested in Fukushima, bamboo shoots from Iwate, and shiitake mushrooms. "The abolition of U.S. import restrictions will have a great impact on other countries and regions," a ministry official said.

The European Union (EU) also plans to ease import restrictions on Japanese farm and food products on Oct. 10, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forest and Fisheries said Tuesday.

According to the ministry, the United States is the third-largest importer of Japanese farm and food products after Hong Kong and China. Japanese exports of farm products and food to the United States totaled 118.8 billion yen ($1.09 billion) in 2020.

With the United States' lifting of import restrictions, effective on Tuesday local time, the number of countries and regions imposing such measures on Japanese farm and food products decreased to 14.

In the wake of the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant following a massive tsunami caused by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake on March 11, 2011, 55 countries and regions placed restrictions on imports of Japanese farm and food products amid fear of potential contamination with radioactive materials.

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