Seafood distribution companies scrambling to get around China’s blanket ban on imports of Japanese seafood are turning to Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asia for help.

China banned imports of Japanese seafood after Tokyo went ahead with plans last August to release tons of treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.

Treated water that had been accumulating at the stricken plant has now been released on three separate occasions with no signs of abnormal radiation levels in the water or seafood caught off the Fukushima coast. But Beijing has given no signs of loosening its import ban.

Since January, Foodison Inc., a Tokyo-based seafood distribution company, has been cooperating with three other domestic companies to process scallops harvested off the main northern island of Hokkaido by shipping them to Vietnam for shucking before re-importing the seafood to Japan.

In the past, the companies shipped scallops to China for processing and then exported them to North America.

The shelled scallops will be sold to restaurants and retailers in Japan by Foodison and two other companies.

The first shipment of 23 tons is scheduled to arrive from Vietnam in late February.

“We want to bolster domestic demand by holding scallop fairs at restaurants that we operate directly,” said a Foodison official.

Seafood trading companies have been looking for alternatives to scallop processing work in Southeast Asia ever since China implemented its import ban.

A total of 13,019 tons of scallops were exported in the September to December quarter, a third of the level of the same period in 2022, according to trade statistics released by the Finance Ministry.

A key reason for the sharp drop-off is that China used to account for 70 percent of the exports. The figure was zero in the last quarter of 2023.

Exports to Thailand increased by 4.6-fold in the quarter, while exports to Vietnam rose 3.3-fold.

“Various companies are taking a wait-and-see approach while thinking about gains and losses from receiving compensation from Tokyo Electric Power Co.” for lost revenue, said an official with a Hokkaido seafood trading company.

The official said companies were seeking an export route to North America via Southeast Asia before the demand in North America disappeared.

TEPCO has been paying compensation to seafood and agriculture companies financially damaged by negative publicity from the water release program and the Chinese import ban.

As of Feb. 20, the utility had paid out a total of about 4.2 billion yen ($28 million).

The company set aside 37 billion yen for such contingencies in financial statements for the end of January, but the figure is expected to increase further.

The central government also established a fund totaling 80 billion yen to provide support to seafood companies.

As of Feb. 22, about 7.9 billion yen was distributed to companies to support their efforts to find new sales outlets and about 5.5 billion yen to reduce fuel costs, according to the economy ministry.

MORE WATER TO BE RELEASED

TEPCO is planning a fourth release of treated water in late February. The volume of the discharge from tanks storing the treated water on the grounds of the stricken nuclear complex will come to about 7,800 tons. 

A total of 31,200 tons is to be released in the current fiscal year. In the next fiscal year from April, another 54,600 tons or so will be discharged on seven different occasions.

TEPCO officials have explained that before being released, the water is treated in the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) to remove all radioactive substances except for tritium.

Prior to release the water is diluted with seawater to bring the radiation level of tritium to under 1,500 becquerels per liter, which is one-fortieth the government’s legal standard.

That water is then pumped through a tunnel for release about 1 kilometer off the Fukushima coast.

The International Atomic Energy Agency in January released its first report about the October water discharge which said it could not confirm any points that did not match international safety standards.

(This article was written by Hideki Motoyama, Jumpei Miura and Fumi Yada in Tokyo and Tokuhiko Saito in Beijing.)