Premium Shine Muscat grapes from Yamanashi Prefecture. (©Sankei/Shimpei Okuhara)
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An agriculture ministry survey has laid bare the accelerating overseas leakage of brand agricultural produce and crops developed in Japan. The damage to domestic farming is severe, given the high profitability of the varieties involved.
Premium grape variety Shine Muscat, whose outflow was confirmed in the past, has now been cultivated at scale in China, with estimated annual losses of around ¥20 billion (about $135 million).
While the Plant Variety Protection and Seed Act has long prohibited the unauthorized removal of domestically developed seeds and seedlings, the leaks have continued unabated—and the government is now moving to tighten regulations.
Sold Cheaply Across Asia
Japanese new varieties—including Shine Muscat, developed by the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization after 33 years of research—have repeatedly been smuggled abroad and grown for sale at low prices across Asia.
In response, the government revised the Plant Variety Protection and Seed Act in 2020, banning the unauthorized export of registered fruit and vegetable seeds and seedlings. As of the end of fiscal 2024, approximately 7,000 varieties are covered.
In Shine Muscat's case, however, the leakage had already occurred before those measures could take effect. According to the ministry, China's cultivation area as of 2022 was estimated at 73,700 hectares—roughly 30 times Japan's.
Exports to neighboring countries have also been confirmed.
Push for Further Regulation
A ministry survey conducted last year found that around 50 varieties of domestically developed fruits and other produce may have been leaked overseas—an increase from the figures disclosed in the previous survey published in 2020.
In some cases, varieties are believed to have been targeted before they are even registered.
Under the current system, once a new variety is filed with the ministry and registered, the developer is granted "breeder's rights"—a form of intellectual property that allows exclusive rights to produce and sell.
The review process typically takes three to six years. During that period, developers such as local governments and public organizations often propagate seedlings and conduct trial cultivation at production sites to facilitate smooth commercialization after registration. The risk of leakage at this pre-registration stage has long been flagged.
In response, the government is pursuing legislation to allow the blocking of unauthorized exports even before a new variety is registered. The bill would create a right of claim enabling export injunctions through civil litigation from the point of publication of the application, and would allow the destruction of seeds, seedlings, and harvested produce.
Protecting Japan's Plant Breeders
A public-private specialist body to protect breeders' rights on behalf of developers is also set to launch by August. The body would receive authorization from local governments and public organizations holding breeder's rights, monitor unauthorized cultivation at home and abroad on their behalf, and pursue litigation where infringement is found.
The body will also promote legitimate overseas production and sales of new Japanese varieties—pitching them to domestic and international operators who grow and sell seedlings. Where contracts are concluded, licenses will be issued and royalties collected, then returned to developers.
A ministry official noted that development of new Japanese varieties has been declining since its 2007 peak, citing rising R&D costs, and added: "We want to build a virtuous cycle in which suppressing unauthorized cultivation feeds royalties back to developers as a resource for creating new varieties."
Protection and Export Growth Must Coexist
Japan has excelled at producing high-quality agricultural produce through variety improvement, but the protection of rights and the prevention of leakage have long been inadequate, says Hirosaki University Professor Satoshi Ishitsuka. He welcomes the proposed revision of the Plant Variety Protection Act, describing the ten-year extension of breeder's rights as "a positive development."
The new specialist body, he argues, must be an "all-Japan framework" with diverse stakeholders—breeder's rights holders, producer organizations, and others—and says that "how much support the government can provide will be the key question."
He also flags a tension at the heart of the policy: exporting seedlings abroad enables local production, "diminishing the rationale for exporting fruit from Japan." Rather than focusing on protection alone, he says, "equal weight must be given to compatibility with agricultural export promotion."
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(Read the article in Japanese.)
Author: Yoshino Nakai, Keiko Tamura, The Sankei Shimbun
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