That's another reason most nurserymen until recently haven't bothered exploring Japanese markets. It takes twice, three times the effort of a domestic sale. But despite rumors in the industry about shipments to Japan being turned back, Mark said that hasn't happened to him. One down side to the Japanese market is that some varieties grown in Oregon don't perform well in the parts of the country that have a California-like climate, so about six years ago the Krautmanns turned their attention to Europe. Today their biggest foreign buyers are from Germany, Holland and England.
Minor markets are in France, Denmark, Italy and Portugal.
Most of Europe also has a cooler climate than that of Japan. As it turns out, the real bread and butter has been in Europe, not Asia. Mark cautions exporting isn't for all nurseries, simply because of the size of material it requires. You can't export soil because it makes the shipment too heavy. That leaves out shade tree, ball and burlapped and most container growers, which is a large percentage of the Northwest production.