Japan to allocate $140 million more to help fisheries after China’s import ban

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday the government would allocate an additional 20.7 billion yen ($141.41 million) to support the fisheries industry after China’s total import ban of Japanese aquatic products.

The ban followed the start of Japan’s release of treated radioactive water from the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant last month.

The government had previously set up two funds worth 80 billion yen to help develop new markets and keep excess fish frozen until they can be sold when demand recovers, among other measures.

With the additional funding, from budget reserves, support would total 100.7 billion yen, Kishida said.

($1 = 146.3800 yen)

(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)