Japan is turning to South Korea and the European Union(EU) as potential new export markets for scallops in the wake of China’s import ban on Japanese seafood products since the start of the wastewater release at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in August.

According to Japan's Kyodo News agency on Monday, the Japanese government held a Cabinet meeting on the expansion of agricultural, forestry and fishery product exports and confirmed its policy to promote the development of new markets.

The list of countries to push for growth in the scallop trade was expanded while the export goal was maintained at 65-point-six billion yen, or some 600 billion won, for 2025.

Tokyo decided on a target value of four-point-one billion yen, or six-point-three percent of the total, for the South Korean market and four-point-five billion yen for the EU next year.

The government is seeking to remedy the impact on scallop exports due to Beijing’s suspension of Japanese seafood shipments, with Tokyo’s fisheries ministry reporting that China imported 46-point-seven billion yen-worth of the shellfish in 2022, about half of the total.

Since September 2013, South Korea has banned the import of seafood caught in eight Japanese prefectures, including Fukushima.