Japan to double imports of Korean-made dried seaweed

TOKYO – Japan has decided to double the amount of dried and salted seaweed it imports from Korea over the next decade, according to a Korean government agency.

Officials from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency in Tokyo confirmed on Friday that by 2025, Japan has agreed to increase the import volume of dried seaweed to 2.7 billion sheets, which is about twice the amount currently being imported from Korea.

Under a previous accord, Japan agreed to import about 1.2 billion sheets of the dried seaweed between 2006 and 2015.

That marked a significant improvement in related trade since up until then, the Japanese government had had volume restrictions on certain products such as dried seaweed and fishery products.

Japan was forced to scrap parts of the system after the Korean government appealed to the World Trade Organization.

Japan currently imports about 70 percent of its dried seaweed from Korea. In the Japanese market, Korean dried seaweed accounts for about 10 percent. 


By Kim Ji-hyun Korea Herald correspondent
(jemmie@heraldcorp.com)