New agriculture minister Ichiro Miyashita has expressed his intention to work on diversifying export destinations to reduce risks in the wake of China's blanket import ban on aquatic products from Japan.
"Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led to spikes in prices for and shortages of fertilizers and feed, and it is becoming clear that Japan depends too much on certain countries for procurement," Miyashita said in an interview with media organizations.
"It is important to reduce risks from the standpoint of economic security. We will redouble efforts to make sure that Japan can import food and production materials stably," he said.