Abstract
Consumer concern about the safety of imported foods is increasing in Japan, the world's largest agricultural import country. In this study, Japanese consumer concerns toward residual agricultural chemical on Chinese agricultural products and the causal relationship of their behavior were captured in two econometric analyses. First, we identified by traditional regression analysis that the riskrelated information in the news media have had negative impacts on imports. Second, we showed clearly by using Structural Equation Modeling that consumer concerns about the process of agricultural production and inspection in China has specified their behavior. When related processor, wholesaler and retailer provided consumers with precise information about the safety of Chinese agricultural products, it was suggested that the import demand may recover even with the present price level. These results will be useful in the development of marketing information for imported agricultural products from other countries.
