Natto exports surge as global demand for fermented plant protein grows

Natto exports climbed to 5,248 tons in 2025, nearly tripling from 1,752 tons in 2017, as Japan’s sticky fermented soybeans found buyers far beyond the breakfast bowl. Export value rose from about $6.2 million to about $21 million over the same span, with China the largest destination and the United States also among the major markets.

Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries says its export statistics are built on Ministry of Finance trade data, and JETRO has tied natto’s steady rise to global health trends. The numbers fit a larger pattern in Japanese food exports: natto is moving with the wider acceptance of Japanese food culture abroad, while the country’s export infrastructure gives a long-established domestic staple a cleaner route into overseas retail.

That route still has to overcome natto’s own personality. The dish is made from cooked soybeans fermented with Bacillus subtilis natto, and Britannica describes it as pungent, sticky and highly nutritious, often stretching into fine threads when stirred. In Japan, it is still most often eaten as a breakfast food with rice, which is exactly why its export growth is notable: consumers are taking a food built around texture, smell and tradition and re-reading it as a functional protein.

The nutritional pitch is doing a lot of the work. Medical and nutrition sources describe natto as an especially rich natural source of vitamin K2, specifically menaquinone-7, or MK-7. The U.S. National Institutes of Health says vitamin K is involved in blood clotting and bone metabolism, and people taking warfarin or other vitamin K-antagonist anticoagulants need to keep intake consistent. PubMed-indexed research on natto has also found that eating fermented soybeans increases circulating MK-7 and gamma-carboxylated osteocalcin, which helps explain the long-running interest in natto and bone health.

That is the lane natto is trying to own: high protein, fiber, fermentation and minimal processing in a market that keeps rewarding foods with a functional story. The catch is the same one that has always limited its audience. Natto is not winning on neutrality the way milder plant proteins do; it is winning on utility, culture and a hard-to-fake fermentation credential. Product innovation that improves convenience and shelf life will help, but broader mainstream acceptance will depend on whether brands can lower the odor and texture barrier without sanding off the very traits that make natto matter.