Japan’s Farm and Food Exports Rise 10% as Tea and Seafood Surge
Japan’s agricultural, forestry, fishery and food exports increased 10% in the first nine months of 2026, driven by sharp gains in green tea, yellowtail and mackerel. Yet September exports slipped slightly, showing that headline growth rests on a concentrated group of products and markets rather than a uniform monthly expansion.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries reported on 4 November that exports reached ¥1.3244 trillion from January through September when small consignments measured for the first half are included. That was ¥120.3 billion more than a year earlier.
Tea and seafood produced the largest gains
Detailed customs-based data excluding the separately measured small-consignment category put exports at ¥1.2718 trillion, up 10.2%. Agricultural products rose 8.3%, forestry products 10.0% and fishery products 15.2%.
Green-tea exports increased 69.6% to ¥77.1 billion. Yellowtail rose 63.8% to ¥57.2 billion, while mackerel more than doubled, increasing 107.3% to ¥29.0 billion. Beef exports grew 19.6% to ¥58.7 billion.
These are export-value changes, not necessarily volume changes. Prices, product mix and currency movements can lift the yen value of shipments even when physical quantities rise more slowly. The ministry’s summary does not isolate those effects.
The United States remained the largest market
Exports to the United States rose 19.0% to ¥240.9 billion, equal to 18.9% of the customs-based total. Hong Kong received ¥166.6 billion, China ¥142.1 billion and Taiwan ¥133.2 billion.
Agrilinkage calculates that those four destinations accounted for 53.7% of the total by adding the ministry’s reported market shares. That concentration makes exporters sensitive to consumer demand, food-safety rules, tariffs and logistics in a small number of Asian and North American markets.
Exports to the European Union increased 22.4% to ¥86.7 billion. South Korea and Vietnam also recorded strong growth of 21.7% and 22.0% respectively.
September interrupted the growth pattern
September exports were ¥145.8 billion, down 0.3% from the same month in 2025. Agricultural exports fell 0.5% and fishery exports declined 3.7%, while forestry exports increased 27.2%.
Several product declines were steep. September scallop exports fell 30.2%, sardines dropped 81.1%, apples declined 56.7% and whisky decreased 11.6%. Those losses were partly offset by higher green tea, beer, tuna and bonito, yellowtail and processed seafood exports.
The monthly pause does not erase the nine-month expansion. It shows why cumulative export targets should be judged against product-level and destination-level data rather than the aggregate alone.
What the growth means for the supply chain
Green tea and premium seafood require more than farm or vessel output. Export growth depends on processing, grading, packaging, certification, air or refrigerated sea freight and reliable cold storage at both ends of the journey.
Tea is shelf-stable after processing but requires quality control and protection from moisture and light. Yellowtail, scallops and mackerel depend on freezing, temperature monitoring and fast border clearance. Growth can create investment opportunities for exporters, cold-chain operators and processors even when domestic production changes little.
What to watch next
The decisive question is whether September’s weakness was temporary. The next release should be assessed for continued U.S. and EU demand, the durability of green-tea growth and whether seafood categories that weakened in September recover.
Volume data will also matter. If export values keep rising faster than quantities, the story is primarily pricing and product mix. If volumes rise alongside value, the impact on farms, fisheries, processing capacity and logistics will be broader.
Methodology and sources
Primary source: Japan’s September 2026 farm and food export report, released 4 November 2026. Agrilinkage translated the Japanese tables, converted hundred-million-yen figures into billions and trillions of yen, and identifies its market-share calculation explicitly.
Cover image: original conceptual illustration created for Agrilinkage. It does not depict a specific shipment, port or exporter.
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