Egypt to Ease Import Curbs on Japanese Foods on Fri.

Tokyo, March 16 (Jiji Press)--Egypt will partially ease its restrictions on food and feed imports from 11 Japanese prefectures, effective on Friday, Japan's farm ministry said Wednesday. The North African country will stop requiring radiation screening certificates for farm products including feeds imported from the prefectures of Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Yamanashi and Shizuoka. Egypt, however, will leave the requirement intact for marine products from the six prefectures of Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba, and newly require them for seafood from Iwate Prefecture, the ministry said. Cairo imposed the food import restrictions after the 2011 triple meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s <9501> disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. According to the ministry, mackerel top the list of Japanese foods exported to Egypt. END