Japan Briefs More Than 700 Growers and Traders as Review of US Fresh-Potato Access Nears Final Stage
Japan's agriculture ministry held a national briefing on 18 September on opening its market to US fresh table potatoes. It has identified 21 pests of concern; the next stage covers risk-management measures.
Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) held an online briefing on 18 September on its plant-quarantine review of a US request to export fresh potatoes to Japan for general distribution. More than 700 growers and import traders took part, according to Japanese broadcaster KSB/ANN and FreshPlaza.
MAFF has identified 21 pest and disease species that could enter Japan with US potatoes. The draft list was published on 28 August. According to reports on the briefing, this completes the second of three stages in the review. The third stage will deal with risk-management measures and import conditions. No decision or timetable has been announced.
The United States first requested access for fresh table potatoes in 2020. Since 2006, US fresh potatoes have been allowed into Japan only for chip processing, according to FreshPlaza. FreshPlaza names the potato cyst nematodes Globodera pallida and G. rostochiensis among MAFF’s main concerns.
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According to KSB, a MAFF official told participants that Japan is not obliged to accept risk-management measures it considers unacceptable. Growers questioned whether pests that cannot be seen could ever be fully controlled. KSB also reported that the US asked Japan earlier this month to speed up the procedure.
Context
According to agricultural portal Mynavi Agri, Japan consumes about 3.5 million tonnes of potatoes a year and produces 2.2–2.4 million tonnes. Hokkaido grows more than 80% of the domestic crop and about 97% of its seed potatoes. In a survey of 48 producers by the direct-sales platform Tabechoku, 81.3% opposed opening the market or opposed it until safety is confirmed; 2.1% were in favour. The sample is small and not representative.
Japanese chip makers already depend on imported potatoes in part; Calbee expects 240,000–250,000 tonnes from Hokkaido this season.
Why it matters
This is the most concrete step so far toward opening Japan’s fresh-potato market to US suppliers. For US exporters it is a potentially large new outlet at a time of low domestic prices. For Hokkaido, the main concern is phytosanitary: any introduction of cyst nematodes would threaten the seed-potato base that supplies the whole country. The conditions set in stage three will decide how much trade actually follows.
Photo: Potato field in Kamishihoro, Hokkaido (illustrative). pakku / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
