Japan's exports of agricultural products increased for the fourth year in a row in 2016, which officials believe came from a rising demand for high-quality fruit.
Exports, including agriculture, fishery and forestry products, grew 1% from 2015 to around USD $6.68 billion, according to government sources, even as Japan's total exports fell 7% last year as a result of the strong yen.
Exports of grapes rose by 50% to around 2.3 billion yen and strawberries jumped 35% to roughly 1.1 billion yen. This increase was attributed to wealthier consumers in Asia importing their fruit.
The government aims to lift Japan's agricultural exports to 1 trillion yen in 2019. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe counted on the Trans-Pacific Partnership on this front, but with the U.S. recently backing out of the deal, the likelihood of reaching these numbers is growing more uncertain.
1 Yen = 0.0089 USD
source: asia.nikkei.com
