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Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Energy Plant (Yonhap) |
The worth of South Korean imports of Japanese seafood hit a 12-year excessive in 2022 on a surge in imports of costly stay fish, authorities information confirmed Thursday.
Seoul imported $174.2 million value of fishery merchandise from the neighboring nation final yr, up 12.2 % from a yr earlier, in response to the info from the Korea Customs Providers.
It marked the biggest yearly worth of Japanese seafood imports since 2010, a yr earlier than the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear energy plant.
South Korea banned all seafood imports from eight Japanese prefectures close to Fukushima in 2013 on considerations over their radiation ranges within the wake of the incident.
Imports of Japanese seafood declined for 4 years after the catastrophe earlier than switching to an upturn.
The worth of imports, which stood at round $210 million in 2010, tumbled to $91 million in 2014 earlier than shifting to an increase a yr later and rising to $120 million in 2019. The quantity edged down in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic however climbed to $160 million in 2021.
Final yr’s improve was led by a soar in imports of costlier stay fish, which got here to round $84 million, or about 48 % of the whole.
By way of quantity, Japanese seafood imports stood at 32,588 tons in 2022, a five-year excessive however some 40 % of the 2010 degree.
Business watchers stated South Korea’s imports of Japanese seafood might rise additional this yr following Japanese media stories that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had requested President Yoon Suk Yeol to raise restrictions on imports of seafood from Fukushima throughout final week’s summit in Tokyo.
Dismissing the stories, an official from the presidential workplace advised a press briefing Monday that South Korea won’t ever raise the curbs “if it poses any menace to the individuals’s security and well being.”
The information additionally confirmed Russia being the highest exporter of seafood to South Korea final yr with $1.42 billion in exports, adopted by China with $1.03 billion, Vietnam with $677 million and Norway with $593 million. The US got here subsequent with $225 million, trailed by Japan. (Yonhap)
