Seafood trade statistics
Japan import data
package overview
Monthly trade data for 13 HS4 codes covering all major seafood categories traded in Japan, from live and fresh fish to prepared seafood and fish oils.
Monthly subscription price
¥6,200 + VAT where applicable
Can be cancelled any time.
Subscription continues until cancellation.
Why check this package
Why Industry-Level multi HS4 analysis Is Essential for the Seafood Industry:
The seafood industry has faced disruption after disruption. IUU (illegal, unreported, unregulated) fishing crackdowns have reshaped which countries can still export legally. Climate-driven shifts in fish stocks are moving catch volumes between regions faster than quotas can adjust. Sanctions and geopolitical restrictions have cut off or redirected major supply routes. Aquaculture has been steadily displacing wild-catch in several categories. And Japan's own import composition keeps responding to all of it, sometimes overnight. A snapshot from two years ago tells you almost nothing about today's supply picture.
Our Seafood Industry Package combines multiple related HS4 codes into a single integrated analytical view, an approach rarely available in other trade statistical systems and uncommon among standard trade data platforms.
By analyzing HS0301, HS0302, HS0303, HS0304, HS0305, HS0306, HS0307, HS0308, HS1504, HS1603, HS1604, HS1605, and HS2301, users can:
Track supply disruption as it happens See sanctions, export bans, or regulatory crackdowns show up directly in Japan's import mix, by country, by species category, by month.
Track price changes by country down to HS9 level
Follow how the per-kg price of one exact product (a specific species, cut, or grade) moves month by month for each supplier country. Because it's tracked at HS9 rather than mixed across a whole HS4 heading, a genuine price shift in one country's output won't get masked by, or confused with, movements happening elsewhere in the same category. That's what turns this into a usable tool for timing purchases, spotting a supplier's cost pressure before they flag it, and building a real negotiating position instead of relying on last quarter's blended average.
Follow the wild-to-farmed shift Watch aquaculture-origin volumes grow relative to wild-catch categories over time, country by country.
Distinguish structural change from a normal cycle Tell a genuine, lasting shift in supply from a short-term disruption, the two call for very different responses.
Follow the full value chain, not just the catch See how disruption in fresh/frozen fish and shellfish (HS0301–HS0308) ripples through into fish oils and fats (HS1504), extracts and juices (HS1603), prepared and preserved products (HS1604, HS1605), and even meals, flours, and pellets used in animal feed (HS2301).
Spot new supplier countries early Catch import composition shifting toward emerging exporters before it shows up in headline trade figures.
HS4 lists contained in this package:
HS0301 - Live fish HS0302 - Fish, fresh or chilled, excluding fish fillets and other fish meat of heading 03.04 HS0303 - Fish, frozen, excluding fish fillets and other fish meat of heading 03.04 HS0304 - Fish fillets and other fish meat (whether or not minced), fresh, chilled or frozen HS0305 - Fish, dried, salted or in brine; smoked fish, whether or not cooked before or during the smoking process. HS0306 - Crustaceans, whether in shell or not, live, fresh, chilled, frozen, dried, salted or in brine; smoked crustaceans, whether in shell or not, whether or not cooked before or during the smoking process; crustaceans, in shell, cooked by steaming or by boiling in water, whether or not chilled, frozen, dried, salted or in brine. HS0307 - Molluscs, whether in shell or not, live, fresh, chilled, frozen, dried, salted or in brine; smoked molluscs, whether in shell or not, whether or not cooked before or during the smoking process. HS0308 - Aquatic invertebrates other than crustaceans and molluscs, live, fresh, chilled, frozen, dried, salted or in brine; smoked aquatic invertebrates other than crustaceans and molluscs, whether or not cooked before or during the smoking process HS1504 - Fats and oils and their fractions, of fish or marine mammals, whether or not refined, but not chemically modified HS1603 - Extracts and juices of meat, fish or crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates
HS1604 - Prepared or preserved fish, caviar and caviar substitutes prepared from fish eggs
HS1605 - Crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic invertebrates, prepared or preserved
HS2301 - Flours, meals and pellets, of meat or meat offal, of fish or of crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates, unfit for human consumption; greaves
Who uses this package for which reason?
Trade consultants and analysts Support Japan market entry reports, competitive analysis, and client presentations with 25(+) years of monthly official trade data.
Embassies and trade organisationsReliable, citable statistics for bilateral trade reports, policy briefings, public presentations, and promotional materials targeting the Japanese seafood market.
Seafood processors and further-processing manufacturers Monitor raw material availability and cost trends for surimi, canned fish, and prepared seafood production lines.
Sushi restaurants and seafood foodservice procurement teams Track species-level price and supply trends, particularly for sushi-grade tuna, unagi, and other premium species.
Retail and supermarket seafood category buyers Monitor wholesale price and volume trends by species to inform private-label sourcing and retail pricing strategy.
Researchers and academics Primary data source for studies on Japanese seafood trade, marine resource economics, and aquaculture supply chains.
Aquaculture and fish farming companies Track the wild-to-farmed trade shift to benchmark farmed production against wild catch trends and identify market opportunities as aquaculture continues displacing wild-catch categories.
Animal feed and fishmeal manufacturers Track fishmeal, fish oil, and feed-grade byproduct trade relevant to aquaculture and livestock feed formulation.
Cold chain logistics and refrigerated shipping companies Monitor the live, fresh, and frozen trade split by origin country to plan cold storage capacity.
Japanese culinary schools and professional chef training programs Track seasonal availability, species substitution trends, and pricing to inform menu development and sourcing curriculum.
Students and trade school learners - Work with real, official monthly trade data to study fisheries policy, sustainable sourcing, and international seafood trade, directly applicable to marine science, culinary, and international business coursework.
Built on Official Data and Optimised for Real Analysis
All data is sourced directly from the Japan Ministry of Finance customs statistics. While publicly available, the available data is difficult to convert into a clean, fast, and analytically usable format.
We have spent years gathering all the data, developing the logic, analyzing what kind of chart will benefit you.
JapanTradeStatistics.com save you potentially hundreds of hours monthly by providing:
Clean and consistent monthly time series from 2000 to present
More than 60 pre-built charts created specifically for trade analysis
Industry-level data and charts without manual data processing
Instant recalculation through advanced filtering
Users spend their time analyzing results, not gathering or preparing data.
Data specification:
Source and content specification: Source: Japan Ministry of Finance official data Coverage: 2000 to present Updated: Monthly Covers: Import data Format: Online access to Power BI No of HS4 codes included: