Tough Year for Japanese Market Again
As Both Imports and Consumption Slide

Domestic production gains, but just barely, and value of domestic output sinks. Frozen seafood imports and seafood consumption decline sharply.

The frozen food industry continues to slump in Japan. Consumption was down 1.2% to 2,176,485 tons last year, according to the Japan Frozen Food Association, and the value of the market was off 4.3% to ¥ 772.9 billion. Domestic production was up in tonnage terms, but sagging imports dragged down consumption, to 17.05 kg per capita.

Fried foods, up 6.7% to 382,983 tons, and confectionery products, up 16% to 47,140, were the primary gainers. Domestic vegetable output advanced 8.7% to 100,088 tons. That non-fried foods were down a bit doesn’t seem to speak well for the evolution of Japanese eating habits. Moreover, frozen fish and seafood consumption dived 18.2% to 84,012 tons. There was a slight shift towards retail, at 33.9% of domestic production.

Among individual items, the largest increase in absolute terms was for noodles, up 14,4% to 247,150 tons. Percentage gains were higher for miscellaneous fried foods, up 25.4% to 86,086 tons; and gyoza, up 23.8% to 33,709. The highest percentage gain was 67.8% for spinach, but that accounted for only 7,342 tons. Hamburgers were up 14% to 51,195 tons, miscellaneous fried fish products advanced 20.3% to 20,892, and croquettes were up 5.8% to 153,970.

Shao-mai was down 0.7% to 35,027 tons, and meatballs rolled back 7.3% to 30,897. Spring rolls took an 85.5% hit, to 19,591 tons, even though they were considerably cheaper than in 2002, and there were losses for such other traditional products as Chinese buns, rice dishes, kneaded fish products, egg products, squid and octopus (raw or fried), lobster and shrimp (ditto), fried oysters and crabs. Poultry, never a large item to begin with, plummeted 52.7% to 3,665 tons – apparently due to a spike in prices, as yen value was down only 37.9%.

China was the top source of imported frozen vegetables at 276,048 tons, with miscellaneous items accounting for nearly half of that at 130,172 tons. But the total was down 8.7%. Imports from the United States, at 242,840 tons, were down 10.2%, and still dominated by potato products at 188,410 tons. Canadian imports were also down, but there were increases for New Zealand, Thailand and Taiwan. Imports of frozen food other than vegetables appear to be increasing, although no precise figures are available. Actual consumption was put at 2.5 to 2.6 million tons.

The number of frozen food plants in Japan declined from 897 to 840. At 6.4%, that was a greater drop than in 2002 (5.7%). Production of refrigerators and freezers also continues to decline – 2,857,000 of the former last year versus 3,317,000 in 2002; and 66,122 of the latter, down from 80,985. The market for refrigerators may be saturated, but that was already the case five years ago, so it would seem that people are waiting longer to replace them.

Imports of frozen fish and seafood, most of which is thawed or further processed into non-frozen products before sale, took a big hit last year. Tonnage of fish was off 12.7% from 1,266,433 to 1,105,709 tons; and that for shellfish and molluscs fell 12.3%, from 433,046 to 379,895. All the major items of 100,000 tons or more – shrimp, surimi, mackerel, yellowfin tuna and bigeye tuna – were down; and only a few items like sardines and herring were up. There has been a recovery through the first seven months of this year, but more in fish than in shellfish and molluscs.