Photo/Illutration Scallops congregate along the coast of Rausu, Hokkaido, blanketing the seafloor. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Scallop producers, hit by China’s two-year ban on Japanese seafood lifted just months ago, remain largely unfazed by the country’s decision to shut the door on their products once again.

China was the largest importer of Japanese scallops until it halted all seafood imports from Japan in August 2023 after Tokyo Electric Power Co. began releasing treated radioactive water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the ocean.

The ban forced scallop producers to diversify markets and mitigate risk by, for example, expanding their sales to the United States and other countries and regions.

Kyuichi, a seafood processing company based in Hakodate, Hokkaido, whose mainstay is scallops, has taken initiatives such as launching a sales website for domestic consumers.

“We have been reminded once again the danger of relying on a single country,” a company representative said of China’s latest policy. “We will continue working hard to broaden our sales channels.”

Beijing informed Tokyo that it will effectively suspend Japanese seafood imports, citing insufficient inspections of treated water released from the Fukushima plant, sources said Nov. 19. 

The previous ban from 2023 was lifted in June this year with some exceptions, and this latest reversal is seen as China’s response to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestions that Japan might use force along with the United States in the event of a Taiwan contingency.

“We were half in doubt even after the ban was lifted because we were at its mercy all along,” a representative of the Hokkaido federation of fisheries processing cooperatives said. “Most companies have not even been able to resume shipments. It is not something we can count on in the first place.”

According to the Fisheries Agency, Japan's seafood exports totaled 387.3 billion yen ($2.5 billion) in 2022 with China accounting for 87.1 billion yen as the top destination. Scallops, a key product, made up 48.9 billion yen of that figure.

A source at a trading company dealing with China said of the latest suspension, “The impact will not be significant.”

Fisheries producers have already secured alternative export destinations, and the Chinese market is “operating just fine” without Japanese seafood, according to the source.

“While there were hopes that imports of items other than scallops might increase, demand for high-priced Japanese products is limited to certain segments, such as high-end restaurants,” the source said.

Following the ban imposed two years ago, some Japanese restaurants in China switched from using Japanese ingredients to domestic ones.

Makoto Chiba, who opened a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian in November, said the import halt will “not have much of an impact,” although he had hoped that increased supply from Japan would push down scallop prices.

“I just wish we could be spared political issues between Japan and China,” said Chiba, 46.

(This article was written by Nobufumi Yamada and Emi Iwata.)

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