Japan’s largest ketchup producer stops sourcing tomatoes from Xinjiang – Japan’s largest vegetable juice producer announces: stop importing tomatoes from Xinjiang

Kagome, a major Japanese producer of tomato paste and vegetable juice, announced on Wednesday (April 14) that the company has stopped importing tomato paste, a raw material for processing ketchup, from Xinjiang, China.

Kazumasa Kitagawa, a spokesman for Kagome, told Reuters, “Growing human rights concerns were a consideration for us, but that was not the only reason for stopping purchases there.”

Western companies, including Japan, are increasingly concerned about alleged human rights abuses by Xinjiang authorities against ethnic minorities such as Uighur Muslims. Some international fashion brands have boycotted cotton produced in Xinjiang, which is allegedly the product of forced labor.

Beijing denies international allegations that China has trampled on the human rights of minorities, including Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, including allegations of forced labor in Xinjiang. Internationally known brands that have stated their rejection of Xinjiang cotton have been targeted by Chinese nationalism, including Nike, Adidas, Uniqlo, Bobberley, Lacoste and more than 20 other companies.

Kazumasa Kitagawa said that any surplus tomato paste from the Xinjiang region would be used up this year. The news was first reported by the Nikkei Shimbun (Nikkei).

Tomato paste purchased from Xinjiang accounts for only about 1 percent of Kagome’s total ketchup production. Kitagawa said the company considers cost, sustainability and other factors when deciding where to source raw materials.

So far, most international attention has focused on cotton from Xinjiang, with only the U.S. banning imports of cotton and tomatoes from the region. The U.S. announced a ban on imports of both products in January of this year due to forced labor in the production process of Xinjiang cotton and Xinjiang tomatoes.

The United Nations has urged global companies to “closely examine their supply chains” because of the alleged detention and forced labor of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.

China is one of the world’s leading tomato exporters, accounting for 35 percent of the world’s total tomato exports in 2019, at 62.76 million tons. Xinjiang is the main tomato growing region in China. Xinjiang is very sunny, with a very significant temperature difference between day and night, and dry with little rain, making it very suitable for tomato cultivation.