Japan Will Boost Beef Imports Next Year by 1.3%, Pork by 0.5%, USDA Says

Japan, the world’s third-largest beef importer, may boost purchases next year, a U.S. government agency said. Pork imports also may increase.

Beef imports may rise 1.3 percent to 704,000 metric tons (1.552 billion pounds) from an estimated 695,000 tons this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service said today in a report on its website. The U.S. share will be steady at 105,000 tons. Japan only imports U.S. beef from cattle 20 months of age or younger, since the 2003 discovery of mad cow disease in the U.S. herd.

“The Japanese beef market clearly lacks a sufficient supply of affordable beef to meet the average consumer’s needs,” the FAS said in the report. “Overall market growth has been seriously hampered by a lack of medium-quality grain fed cuts that only the United States can provide.”

An outbreak of foot and mouth disease in livestock herds may reduce Japanese pork and beef production by 1 percent to 2 percent this year. The outbreak that lasted from April to July may have cost the Japanese government “tens of billions” of yen, according to the FAS report. About 288,000 pigs and cows were slaughtered because of the highly contagious disease, according to the Miyazaki prefecture government.

Japan’s pork imports may rise to 1.157 million tons in 2011, up 0.5 percent from 1.151 million tons last year, the FAS said. Purchases from the U.S. will be flat at 514,000 tons, according to the report.

Rising pork imports will be due to “an increase in prepared/processed products from China, rather than the increase of seasoned ground pork from the United States/Canada,” the FAS said.

Japan, the largest pork importer, trails only the U.S. and Russia for the amount of beef it buys from overseas, according to USDA data.

To contact the reporter on this story: Whitney McFerron in Chicago at wmcferron1@bloomberg.net

• Tweet
• More
  • Business Exchange
  • Buzz up!
  • Digg
• Print
• Email