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Aussies NOT Threatened

Mike

Well-known member
U.S. re-entry in Japan seen as no threat to Aussie Beef
The return of U.S. beef to the Japanese market this week will have minimal effects on Australian exports, a senior official of Meat and Livestock Australia said Wednesday.

"We expect very little impact," Peter Barnard, general manager of economic, planning and market services at MLA, a group of livestock producers, processors and retailers, told Jiji Press in an interview.

He added that restrictions placed on U.S. beef will affect its ability to cater to high-end markets.

Japan allows imports of meat taken from American cows aged up to 20 months on condition that parts with high risk of mad cow disease infections are removed.

Barnard believes that the U.S. re-entry will eventually expand the beef market in Japan, returning beef consumption to the peak level of 1,082,000 tons recorded in 2000.

Japanese beef consumption is currently estimated to be 25 pct below the level of that year. Barnard said that "the total market is down, total consumption is down."

Barnard indicated that the United States would have to strive to recapture consumer interest in American beef.

"I think there is some hesitation associated with U.S. beef," he said. "We expect that it will be a slow re-entry, a gradual re-entry."

MLA this week revised upward its forecast for Australian beef exports to Japan in 2006 by 5,000 tons to 395,000 tons.

The first shipment of U.S. beef since Tokyo''s removal of its all-out ban on U.S. beef imports, reinstated in January, arrived in Japan on Monday. U.S. beef began to appear Wednesday on store shelves at three Japanese outlets of Costco Wholesale Japan Inc., the Japanese unit of members-only discount warehouse retailer Costco Wholesale Corp. of the United States.

Meanwhile, Japanese supermarket operators have no plans to resume sales of U.S. beef immediately, due to persistent concerns on safety among consumers. (Jiji Press)

August 10, 2006
 
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