Japan's farm ministry sets up new bureau to expand food exports

Japan's farm ministry Thursday launched a new bureau to boost exports of agricultural products to make up for a shrinking domestic market as the country's population declines. The Export and International Affairs Bureau at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is expected to play a key role in efforts to achieve the goal of expanding farm exports to 2 trillion yen ($18 billion) by 2025 and 5 trillion yen by 2030 from about 920 billion yen in 2020. The bureau, in charge of negotiations and coordination with export destination countries, was created by integrating the International...