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FINALLY SOME PROGRESS

HAY MAKER

Well-known member
Japan partially re-opens to U.S. beef
Thursday, July 27, 2006, 7:23 AM

by Peter Shinn

As expected, Japan on Thursday announced it would partially lift its ban on U.S. beef, at least for now. According to the Kyodo News Agency, Japanese Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Jiro Kawasaki has promised to close the Japanese market again entirely if any one of the 35 U.S. beef processing plants authorized to ship beef to Japan makes a mistake that violates the U.S.-Japan food trade agreement.

That agreement specifies only boneless beef from cattle under 21 months of age is to be shipped to Japan. And Kawasaki confirmed around 1,000 tons of U.S. beef now stranded at Japanese ports would be allowed in only after each container had been examined, a process he said would take three months.

Still, U.S. Ag Secretary Mike Johanns, traveling in Kazakhstan on a trade mission, issued a statement early Thursday morning saying he was “pleased” that the “long process” needed to re-open Japan’s market had “paid off.” And Johanns praised Congress for its patience. A number of lawmakers from beef producing states had supported imposing trade sanctions against Japan in retaliation for its embargo of U.S. beef.

But Johanns also urged Japan to keep its market open to U.S. beef, even if a particular U.S. beef shipment didn’t meet Japanese standards. “Nations need reasonable methods of addressing the inadvertent shipment of products that don't meet an importing country's specifications, without disrupting an entire trading relationship,” the Johanns statement said. “The U.S. has such methods of addressing noncompliant shipments from Japan, as well as our other trading partners, and I am hopeful that going forward Japan will take a similar approach.”

And Johanns also invited Japanese officials to talks on shifting the U.S.-Japanese beef trade relationship to one based on the scientific standards of the World Animal Health Organization, widely known by its French initials, the OIE. Johanns noted the U.S. had shipped $1.4 billion dollars worth of Japan in 2003, and said, “I look forward to the day when we resume that level of trade. To that end, I have asked the Japanese Government to meet with us this fall to discuss the next steps toward strengthening our beef trading relationship and graduating to standards based in science."

Senate Ag Committee Chairman Saxby Chambliss called Japan’s announcement “welcome news,” but said he also saw it as only a first step. “"I remain concerned with the restrictions on cattle over 20 months of age,” Chambliss said, “but I am optimistic that internationally-accepted scientific standards will prevail and lead to a full restoration of beef trade between our Nations in the near future.”

Japan closed its market to beef in December of 2003 after USDA found the first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in a Washington State dairy cow that had been imported from Canada. Japan re-opened its market in December of 2005, but closed it again on January 20th of 2006 when a New York beef processor mistakenly sent a shipment of bone-in veal to Japan.
 
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