According to data from the Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries Ministry, Japanese shipments of sake reached a record value of ¥8.5 billion (US$81.05 million) in the ten months to October 2013 marking the fourth consecutive annual gain. During the same ten month period sake exports to the U.S. reached a value of ¥3.2 billion (US$30.5 million) or 38% of the total shipments. Sake sales to the U.S. for all of 2012 equaled ¥3.25 billion (US$31 million). Sake shipments to Hong Kong reached a value of ¥1.3 billion (US$12.4 million) in the first ten months of 2013 after equaling ¥1.5 billion (US$14.3 million) for all of 2012. Farmers on the country’s west coast are planting Nihonbare rice for the first time in a decade as Prime Minister Abe has aimed for a fivefold increase in exports of sake, rice crackers, and other rice-based products to ¥60 billion (US$572 million) by 2020. The surge in sake exports has proven to be an opportunity for Japanese farmers to switch away from producing food rice in the face of declining domestic consumption as the diets of the Japanese people become more varied.
To receive relevant news stories with summaries provided by GAI Research & Insight, subscribe to Global AgDevelopments, our free bi-weekly enhanced eNews service