Tokyo, 22 October, /AJMEDIA/
China imported virtually no seafood from Japan last month, according to official data, as Beijing continues a total ban on marine products from its neighbor in response to the discharge of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.
The trade data released by Chinese customs showed no value for Japanese marine products in September. But deducting the figure for January-August Japanese seafood imports from that for January-September showed a value of about 60,000 yuan ($8,200), or a 99.98 percent fall from 361 million yuan last September.
In August, imports dived 67.6 percent from the previous year. China has banned all seafood imports from Japan since the Fukushima water discharge began in late August.
Japanese seafood has been replaced by domestic marine products in China or imports from other countries, dealing a blow to the Japanese fisheries industry.
Japan has urged China to lift the seafood import ban, saying the treated water has been discharged in line with global safety standards.