NEWSLETTER ARTICLES

Small Farms and Specialty Crops

From our Central Coast Agriculture Highlights newsletter December 1997 issue:

JAPANESE FRESH VEGETABLE IMPORTS

by Mark Gaskell

Asparagus

Fresh vegetable shipments to Japan from the Central Coast have increased steadily during the past 3-4 years, and there is interest in penetrating the market with additional fresh products. Total volume from Santa Barbara County, for example, is now approaching 4,000 trailer loads (40,000 lbs. per load) per year, and many signs indicate continued fresh vegetable export growth. Thus far, the volume is heavily weighted to fresh broccoli, but little by little shippers are adding increasing volumes of lettuce, celery, and even specialties such as arugula, radicchio, and peeled carrots. The Japanese seem to have a particular liking for the leafy vegetables and asparagus.

A summary of Japanese fresh vegetable import statistics for the years 1988 to 1996 are presented in Table 1a-h at the end of this discussion. Japanese imports of fresh vegetables have shown a substantial increase in recent years. In 1996, the top three imported vegetables in volume terms were onions, pumpkins (hard squash), and broccoli. In terms of value, the top five vegetables were matsutake mushrooms, broccoli, asparagus, pumpkins, and onions.

In 1994, China was the top exporting country to Japan with 660,929 tons, and the US was second with 624,402 tons. Many feel that although China will continue to be a factor in the future, the growing internal Chinese demand will also affect Chinese export capability.

Total Japanese imports still do not have a pronounced effect on Japanese domestic production because imports still account for only about 10% of total consumption. This is a sign that there is tremendous potential for further growth as Japanese domestic production declines due to a number of pressures. Much has been written about the changing nature of Japanese agriculture and the increasing dependence on imports, and these figures support those trends. Plant quarantine restrictions are slowly falling, and these types of restrictions present less problems as time goes on. Lettuce

The traditional Japanese produce distribution system is also changing, allowing more free-market price fluctuation. Central Coast shippers are developing relationships with Japanese wholesalers and retailers. These kinds of relationships are important in understanding the rules of the Japanese marketplace and learning where the opportunities lie.

Japanese Fresh Produce Imports, 1988-1996

	Tomatoes		Onions		Shallots		Garlic
	Value	Volume	Value	Volume	Value	Volume	Value	Volume
Year	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)
1988	8	3	45,689	112,443	430	187	4,107	4,238
1989	0	0	29,209	80,780	527	226	3,471	4,355
1990	0	0	31,591	86,646	735	236	2,595	3,265
1991	27	11	25,147	62,781	945	312	3,518	3,945
1992	11	8	14,220	35,138	1,209	304	6,055	6,691
1993	151	53	29,885	61,809	774	350	11,758	16,371
1994	1,016	242	97,335	206,849	764	338	7,963	10,342
1995	1,793	476	136,197	245,844	899	333	12,233	12,813
1996	2,097	502	69,138	184,455	818	380	26,743	23,574

Japanese Fresh Produce Imports, 1988-1996

	Leeks/Other Alliums		Cauliflower & Headed Broccoli		Broccoli		Brussels Sprouts
	Value	Volume	Value	Volume	Value	Volume	Value	Volume
Year	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)
1988	8,853	5,462	1,401	757	0	0	0	0
1989	10,028	5,866	1,157	697	0	0	0	0
1990	9,282	5,805	2,571	1,316	0	0	0	0
1991	11,116	6,405	453	197	0	0	1	0
1992	9,972	5,616	2,218	1,156	0	0	43	24
1993	11,886	7,460	4,294	2,043	0	0	48	25
1994	13,592	8,456	352	139	134,453	72,172	0	0
1995	12,969	7,649	65	23	135,255	74,330	67	24
1996	14,034	9,250	201	99	128,156	73,767	14	3

Japanese Fresh Produce Imports, 1988-1996

	Cabbages (exclud.B.Sprouts, Kale)		Cabbage (Head) Lettuce		Lettuce, excluding Cabbage Lettuce		Witloof Chicory
	Value	Volume	Value	Volume	Value	Volume	Value	Volume
Year	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)
1988	5,083	6,158	240	104	24	13	2,744	450
1989	7,637	5,360	50	34	23	11	2,864	512
1990	14,163	8,088	387	369	49	19	3,857	630
1991	57,532	45,544	7,709	5,537	819	281	3,475	607
1992	53,849	29,477	1,668	995	1,295	374	2,993	580
1993	86,390	53,256	7,393	4,919	1,240	422	2,734	559
1994	5,886	9,919	8,365	5,775	1,121	424	2,978	600
1995	6,869	11,941	3,414	2,317	1,355	468	3,585	616
1996	1,414	2,690	2,474	2,045	2,165	601	3,935	696

Japanese Fresh Produce Imports, 1988-1996

	Other Chicory		Carrots and turnips		Salad beetroot, salsify, celeriac, radishes, etc.		Cucumbers and gherkins
	Value	Volume	Value	Volume	Value	Volume	Value	Volume
Year	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)
1988	18	2	689	1,127	974	661	12	8
1989	38	7	719	1,484	2,009	1,144	165	231
1990	45	7	2,288	3,658	1,245	193	267	143
1991	135	25	5,301	10,007	1,486	342	1,371	709
1992	498	69	1,854	2,967	171	76	2,321	1,160
1993	503	92	6,155	9,266	687	541	1,938	969
1994	2,928	506	12,169	18,212	1,042	814	3,025	1,289
1995	4,586	759	33,736	55,573	606	522	5,936	2,516
1996	5,774	1,077	18,646	30,200	202	178	4,657	2,197

Japanese Fresh Produce Imports, 1988-1996

	Peas (Pisum sativum)		Beans (Vigna spp.)		Other leguminous vegetables		Globe Artichokes
	Value	Volume	Value	Volume	Value	Volume	Value	Volume
Year	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)
1988	14,560	5,707	309	68	6,429	3,535	20	5
1989	9,638	4,682	775	191	3,800	1,713	32	7
1990	9,268	4,165	1,507	483	6,875	2,828	24	5
1991	19,129	8,067	1,005	206	9,157	4,348	27	5
1992	11,656	6,137	1,387	285	9,250	3,634	0	0
1993	15,682	7,491	3,638	686	12,748	5,617	6	2
1994	20,310	10,830	5,211	937	10,930	4,411	61	13
1995	26,266	9,857	7,787	1,336	10,973	4,482	14	3
1996	23,776	13,983	7,105	1,389	7,903	3,326	24	3

Japanese Fresh Produce Imports, 1988-1996

	Asparagus		Aubergines (eggplants)		Celery other than celeriac		Matsutake
	Value	Volume	Value	Volume	Value	Volume	Value	Volume
Year	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)
1988	56,087	11,926	25	7	520	589	85,386	1,430
1989	52,098	10,736	0	0	321	410	104,580	2,210
1990	56,445	11,607	0	0	495	710	109,660	2,661
1991	61,483	12,482	103	36	1,333	1,626	110,742	1,435
1992	70,213	15,045	86	29	1,292	1,758	145,840	2,244
1993	90,451	18,315	49	16	1,763	2,285	114,938	1,943
1994	114,685	21,270	36	14	3,289	4,396	179,329	3,622
1995	123,071	22,736	122	40	3,558	4,192	198,778	3,515
1996	112,663	22,199	762	284	3,231	4,225	137,654	2,703

Japanese Fresh Produce Imports, 1988-1996

	Shitaake Mushrooms		Mushrooms other than Matsutake		Truffles		Capsicum or Pimenta fruits
	Value	Volume	Value	Volume	Value	Volume	Value	Volume
Year	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)
1988	0	0	6,699	1,075	902	2	0	0
1989	0	0	6,883	1,014	1,574	3	2	0
1990	0	0	6,243	902	1,924	4	10	2
1991	0	0	13,478	2,106	2,674	4	51	8
1992	0	0	31,141	5,277	2,665	4	31	5
1993	80,456	15,586	2,129	436	2,185	4	2,621	495
1994	97,346	24,320	2,481	655	2,690	5	8,347	1,365
1995	94,842	26,308	3,358	572	3,398	7	16,771	2,354
1996	91,069	24,394	3,943	600	2,779	10	25,796	3,985

Japanese Fresh Produce Imports, 1988-1996

	Spinach, N Z spin., and orache spin.		Sweet Corn		Pumpkins		TOTAL FRESH VEGETABLES
	Value	Volume	Value	Volume	Value	Volume	Value	Volume
Year	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)	(000$)	(Mt)
1988	23	21	536	429	57,232	81,979	304,661	240,560
1989	8	3	467	345	52,196	81,751	296,970	206,381
1990	11	1	31	24	67,175	99,151	336,329	235,822
1991	8	3	42	31	80,861	101,080	429,504	271,818
1992	29	19	300	135	86,746	122,188	472,034	245,957
1993	0	0	494	214	101,299	126,185	616,020	346,423
1994	53	64	1,597	619	112,758	156,783	886,897	581,739
1995	157	81	1,740	828	115,654	131,844	991,402	633,427
1996	64	110	3,051	1,292	104,688	143,790	829,332	585,869