Japan increased its cabbage imports in January by more than 40 times year-on-year as local harvests suffered from lack of rain.



The Finance Ministry says Japan brought in 17,483 tons of the vegetable last month. That compares to 410 tons a year ago -- a 42.5-fold jump. It's the second-biggest monthly import since the government started keeping comparable data in 2008.



Ninety-five percent of the cabbage came from China.



Imports of Chinese cabbage surged to 1,440 tons from almost zero a year earlier. And for lettuce, the amount was up by 80 percent.



The agriculture ministry says the average retail price for cabbage per kilogram in the three-day period through February 19 was 401 yen or nearly 2 dollars and 70 cents. That's more than 2.5 times the amount in a usual year.



The average price for Chinese cabbage increased 2.7-fold.