{"id":1675096,"date":"2022-10-06T00:50:19","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T04:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1675096"},"modified":"2022-10-06T00:50:52","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T04:50:52","slug":"japan-targets-farm-export-gains-to-blunt-weak-yens-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/japan-targets-farm-export-gains-to-blunt-weak-yens-pain\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan targets farm export gains to blunt weak yen\u2019s pain"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjapan-targets-farm-export-gains-to-blunt-weak-yens-pain%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1675096&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Takaya Yamaguchi<\/p>\n<p>TOKYO (Reuters) \u2013     When Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida vowed this week to wring more gains from the weak yen, which has become instead a source of economic pain, he was pinning his hopes on the likes of Soichi Yoshimura, 33, and his strawberry farm north of Tokyo.<\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1663871513696-art-1\">\n<\/div>\n<p>Most Japanese farmers \u2013 like many other key players in the economy \u2013 are up in arms about the yen\u2019s 20% slide this year, which has inflated costs for imported fuel, fertiliser and other production inputs.<\/p>\n<p>But prospects are different for Japan\u2019s exporters of \u201cwagyu\u201d beef, green tea, and premium fruits and vegetables, including the \u201cSky Berries\u201d from Yoshimura\u2019s greenhouses that can fetch as much as 800 yen ($5.50) or more apiece in the supermarkets of Hong Kong, Bangkok and Singapore.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone seems worried about a weak yen,\u201d Yoshimura said. \u201cBut it\u2019s good for our exports of strawberries because it helps make our prices competitive at overseas markets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Agriculture exports were among a clutch of sectors that Kishida targeted in a policy speech on Monday \u2013 along with tourism and the construction of foreign chip and battery plants in Japan \u2013 that could get a boost from the yen\u2019s steep fall, and offset some of the economic damage it has caused.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to maximise earning power now that the weak yen raises the potential of exports,\u201d Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, Kishida\u2019s second-in-command, told a government meeting on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Matsuno instructed ministers to bring forward the government\u2019s target of nearly doubling agricultural exports to 2 trillion yen ($13.8 billion) annually by 2025, and urged government ministries to find ways of leveraging the weak yen to boost farmers\u2019 earning power.<\/p>\n<p>The government aims to boost farm exports further to 5 trillion yen by 2030, and Kishida also set a 5 trillion yen target for annual revenue from tourism, which is expected to rebound after COVID-related border restrictions are lifted on Oct. 11.<\/p>\n<p>That would still be relatively modest compared with last year\u2019s 83 trillion yen in overall exports and roughly 550 trillion-yen GDP, but marks steady progress for agricultural exports, which totalled just 450 billion yen in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>STRUCTURAL REALIGNMENT<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is not Japan\u2019s first go at this sort of structural realignment, to diversify its manufacturing-dominated economy and revive its stagnant rural areas.<\/p>\n<p>Similar efforts have emerged from Japanese policymakers since the early 2000s, including proposed reforms by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe\u2019s government in the last decade.<\/p>\n<p>But the yen\u2019s steep drop this year to a 24-year low, triggering a surge in import-driven cost-push inflation that severely threatens both Japan\u2019s economic growth and Kishida\u2019s popularity, has given new impetus to the campaign.<\/p>\n<p>In southern Japan\u2019s Miyazaki prefecture, the local government is offering $5,200 subsidies to farmers developing new farm products for export and setting up new facilities exclusively for use in exports.<\/p>\n<p>Not far away in rural Saga prefecture, nestled between the cities of Nagasaki and Fukuoka, the prefectural government is building a new wagyu processing plant to gear up for export of \u201cSaga beef\u201d, a leading domestic brand, to European markets.<\/p>\n<p>And in Gunma prefecture, north of Tokyo, about 40 small firms have begun exporting farm products since 2018 under the auspices of the Japan External Trade Organization, a semi-governmental export promotion entity that has provided expertise on brand development, export pricing and other export-related operations.<\/p>\n<p>But export-oriented farmers in Japan say the sector will need more investment to increase productivity and produce higher-value goods, especially since the weak yen has become a double-edged sword that also boosts costs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe cost of fertilisers and shipping materials have risen a lot,\u201d said Hideyuki Otsuki, 65, a peach farmer in Fukushima prefecture north of Tokyo, who exports his produce to Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s true the weak yen helps food exports. To maximise the positive impact, we must add more value to farm goods and boost output so that more of us make ends meet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>($1 = 144.4900 yen)<\/p>\n<p> (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto and Takaya Yamaguchi; Additional reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Edmund Klamann)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/uncategorized\/japan-targets-farm-export\/attachment\/file-photo-farmer-kiyoharu-hirao-feeds-wagyu-cattle-at-his\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI9504K-BASEIMAGE.jpg\" alt=\"tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI9504K-BASEIMAGE\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Takaya Yamaguchi TOKYO (Reuters) \u2013 When Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida vowed this week to wring more gains from the weak yen, which has become instead<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1675096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1675096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1675096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1675096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1675096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1675096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1675096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}