Major travel agency H.I.S. Co. plans to start selling Japanese food products overseas, aiming to achieve sales of 30 billion yen in five years.
The firm's 8,000 employees in 69 countries around the world are to work effectively as "sales representatives" to develop sales channels for products that can be processed at overseas factories.
The first item selected for the venture is a tea brand called Ise Tea -- mostly grown in Mie Prefecture -- which the company plans to export to its hub in Azerbaijan.
By the end of the year, the company plans to promote such processed products as tea bags and matcha chocolate made using the exported tea to supermarkets and hotel chains in Europe and the Middle East.
The company intends to use Singapore as another base to expand its business further.
The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) is supporting the development of overseas markets.
Premium products made with Japanese agricultural and fishery products have long been targeted at wealthy consumers concerned with such matters as provenance.
However, H.I.S. is targeting middle-income consumers by offering high-quality "Japanese produce," giving Japanese farmers an opportunity to secure a stable source of income.
The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry will cooperate with H.I.S. to increase the number of participating farmers.
H.I.S. hopes the new business will lead to diversification of its operations as the proliferation of ticket booking websites has triggered concerns in the industry that ticket sales for such services as air travel may peak.
H.I.S. also plans to include the export of long-life milk, mainly produced in Hokkaido, as well as mikan tangerines from Mie Prefecture, among other products.
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