Japan Fears China Bans Sand Exports

Resource-poor Japan not only consumes a lot of overseas oil resources, but also needs to import sand. At present, Japan is the largest importer of sand in the world. According to the Global Times, Japan imported 6.07 million tons of natural sand in 2005, 70% of which came from China, while 95% of river sand used in concrete production was imported from China. However, not long ago, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs of China issued a notice indicating that the ban on the export of natural sand would be resumed from March 1, 2007. Japanese construction industry people have expressed concern about this. In Japan, an island country surrounded by the sea on all sides, massive sand mining during the period of rapid economic growth has caused serious environmental problems in Japan. The natural river beaches that were common in the past have begun to retreat, the river channel has been deformed, the supply of mud and sand in the upper reaches has been reduced, and more and more intercepting sluices have slowed down the flow rate in the lower reaches of the river. The ecosystem of the region has been badly affected.

In addition, the impact of excessive sand mining on groundwater quality should not be ignored. When the sandy soil layer is damaged, its natural purification ability is greatly weakened. The pollutants on the surface and the waste water accumulated in the sand pit after sand mining are very easy to enter the shallow water layer, endangering the safety of urban water supply. For this reason, Japan's Okayama Prefecture issued a ban on river sand mining two years ago, and other local governments such as Kagawa Prefecture have introduced the same ban one after another.

However, high-rise buildings rising from the ground cannot be separated from high-strength concrete, which has very high requirements for sand and must select high-quality sand with uniform particles. Although the demand for sand in the construction market has also decreased due to the reduction of engineering projects after the collapse of Japan's bubble economy, the continuous construction of land reclamation projects such as Kobe Artificial Island and Osaka International Airport has increased Japan's demand for sand and gravel in another way.

In recent years, the supply of sea sand and river sand in Japan mainly depends on overseas imports, and the number of imports has increased year by year. According to statistics from relevant departments, Japan's sand imports last year were four times as much as 10 years ago, making it the world's largest importer of sand. In 2005, Japan imported 1.8 million tons of sea sand from Guangdong, Fujian and other places in China, mainly used as concrete raw materials for construction.

In addition to sand for construction, sand for tourism and beautification in Japan also needs to be imported. Shirahama Bathing Beach in Wakayama Prefecture is famous throughout Japan for its clean white sand. In the 1970s, there was a tourism boom here, which led to a sharp increase in the number of hotels and sanatoriums. Affected by the construction at that time, the sea sand resources were exhausted. In order to restore the former charm of Baibin bathing beach, the local government plans to re-expand the beach area, and the white sand needed for such projects also depends on overseas imports.

Chinese natural sand, which is cheap and of good quality, has always been the main source of sand and gravel supply in Japan. Xu Teng Dingjiu, a researcher at Tsukuba Institute of Industrial Technology, pointed out at a seminar in 2006 that sand is a limited resource, and it is difficult to say how long Japan can survive by importing sand and stone completely. Therefore, after learning that the Chinese government has resumed the ban on the export of natural sand, an industry insider in Osaka Cement, who is very dependent on Chinese raw materials, said: "Japan's restricted zone for sand mining has been extended to the Seto Inland Sea. Seeing that the domestic sources of raw materials have been stretched to the limit, if China bans the export of natural sand in March this year, we will be in a desperate situation."

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