JP melons Japan

Japan’s government has announced measures to streamline Japan’s export procedures.

The government will work with wholesale markets to halve the processing time for exports of farm and fisheries products, with the government setting a goal of ¥1trilion (US$8.64bn) in annual exports by 2020.

Quarantine and certificate issuing will be conducted at a single location at Haneda, Narita and Chubu airports, according to Nikkei, with wholesale markets handling the export paperwork.

Previously, export certificates were supplied by local offices of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries, with the whole export process taking up to six days.

The government hopes that consolidating administration and making the process simpler will allow even smaller producers to reach overseas markets without the need for middlemen.

The announcement comes as Japan reported a record year in food exports in 2015, which rose 21.8 per cent on the previous year to ¥745.2bn.