Canadian pork industry members are headed to Japan on a trade mission this week as Canada supplants the U.S. as Japan’s top pork supplier.

Canadian pork is the top imported pork in Japan for the first time in 40 years.

The U.S. was Japan’s largest pork supplier between 2020 and 2024, according to a report from the Province of Manitoba.

It exported C$2.01 billion in pork products to Japan in 2024, with Canada second that year at $1.61 billion in pork products exported to Japan.

In the first half of 2025, Japan had already imported $3.8 billion in pork products, which represents 52.3 per cent of last year’s total imports from all origins. 

Canada’s market share of Japanese pork imports through the first half of the year increased to 22 per cent, from 21.8 per cent.

AloJapan.com