Japan, South Korea Shirk Local Supply in Favour of Russian Exports

Japanese imports of Newfoundland and Labrador snow crab have considerably fallen over the last year in favour of Russian exports, which is undercutting Newfoundland and Labrador prices by around $10 per kilogram.

“Japan did buy from us last year, but it was a drastically reduced amount based on historical purchases by Japan,” said N.L. Member of Parliament Clifford Small, Shadow Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard. “But in the meantime, in October, the purchases of Russian crab were up by 400 per cent.”

Small has questioned the ethics of these purchases by Japan, as many countries have sanctioned Russian exports ranging from oil and gas to food goods in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.

The MP believes that as a Western ally, a G7 country (alongside the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, Italy and Germany) and a cooperating party of NATO, Japan should abide by sanctions put in place by its closest allies.

“Currently, the chair of the G7 — the rotating chair — is held by the Japanese Prime Minister. Japan has a great market for snow crab. It’s choosing to buy from a non-ally and from a country that’s had their product sanctioned by the United States as of June 23,” said Small.

“If the United States, our largest trading partner, G7 partner, NATO ally, you name it… has banned the purchasing of Russian crab, well we would have thought that Japan would have followed suit.”

These sales have had a considerable effect on N.L. snow crab, where an estimated 30 per cent of the quota has been left in inventory.

Canada and Japan are both signatories of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a free trade agreement between Canada and 10 other countries, representing 13.4 per cent of the global gross domestic product.

Small believes that other than cost-saving measures taken by Japan, the trade between the latter country and Russia makes little sense. He says Canada, a steadfast ally, is more than willing to supply most crab products Japan requires.

“If Japan needs crab; if they need certain specifications, we can meet them, other than supplying fresh crab to the Japanese market. In an event like this where crab is a luxury product, Japan can do without fresh crab from Russia. They can sacrifice to support our allies,” said Small.

“If you look at Europeans and their reliance on Russia for natural gas, it’s a completely different kettle of fish, because natural gas is a necessity of life to keep people warm and to carry on manufacturing then you can understand why they’re still buying natural gas from Russia. But in fact, they’ve made past attempts to end their reliance on Russian natural gas, which is a necessity of life, yet Japan has stepped up their purchasing of a luxury product.”

Japan is not the only transgressor in trading with the widely condemned Russia, according to Small.

“Back in May when this was brought to my attention, I started to do a little research on my own and one little tidbit I hadn’t mentioned is South Korea is buying Russian snow crab and it was on the market in South Korea for half of last year’s price,” said Small.

Small said that the Canadian government has taken little action on this issue from his point of view. He claimed to have made current fisheries minister Joyce Murray aware of the issue on October 21, 2022.

“The Japanese like to deal with things diplomatically and not have their issues out in the wide open, but we broke this in a press release on the day that the Japanese Prime Minister was visiting in hopes that our Prime Minister would address it, but to my knowledge, the topic wasn’t broached,” said Small.

As a shadow fisheries minister for Prime Ministerial hopeful Pierre Poilievre, Small believes that a Conservative Party government would have handled this issue differently than how he perceives the current government is dealing with Japan’s trade indiscretion.

“We’d have our global affairs and our trade departments working on this, and we’d go to our other G7 partners and get them to help us put pressure on Japan as well,” said Small. “We’d certainly be working hard to make this right.”

There is a glimmer of hope in this situation. As of the time this article was written, Small indicated that the Japanese ambassador to Canada has called for an urgent meeting regarding the former countries’ trade with Russia. The details of this meeting, Small assumes, might be sensitive in nature for the time-being.

“We received the email this morning, so my executive assistant in Ottawa called me right away and I said, ‘Well, let’s get this meeting for Monday evening as soon as possible,’” said Small. “Every day matters now as we approach the upcoming season.”