Australian growers and exporters from northern Queensland travelled to Japan recently to celebrate, strengthen, and grow its long-standing trade and investment relationship.

Japan is Queensland's third-largest agricultural export market, and the state government has identified growth potential for exporting fruit and vegetables.

The four-day delegation was led by Agriculture Minister Mark Furner and included representatives of Pacific Coast Eco Bananas, Daintree Fresh, Harrowsmiths International, and Bowen Gumlu Growers Association.

BGGA CEO Ry Collins said the primary goal was to showcase melons, mangoes, pumpkins, and bananas.

Those commodities were represented because there were market access restrictions on other commodities in Japan due to fruit flies, with imported produce requiring hard inedible skin.

Innisfail grower Frank Sciacca from Pacific Coast Eco Bananas saw a display of his company's first-ever shipment of bananas to Japan.