Japan Reopens Market to U.S. Beef, NCGA Notes (7-27-06)

Japan lifted its ban on U.S. beef shipments today, allowing beef producers the opportunity to recapture their largest market, the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) notes.

“Livestock is our number one customer, and several NCGA members are also livestock and beef producers,” said Bill Chase, chairman of NCGA’s Production and Stewardship Action Team. “The reopening of the Japanese market secures access for one of most important customers.”

Livestock is the number one customer for corn growers, consuming about 55 percent of the corn used in 2005. Beef cattle consumed more than 1.5 billion bushels of corn for the 2005-2006 marketing year. In 2003, the United States exported $1.4 billion of beef and beef products to Japan.

Japan and the United States have gone back-and-forth over the beef issue for more than two and a half years.

In December 2003, Japan banned U.S. beef shipments after it discovered a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The BSE case was the first-ever for the Unites States. In December 2005, Japan lifted the ban, allowing the United States to export boneless beef from cattle 20 months of age and younger to Japan. But one month later, Japanese inspectors found a shipment of veal with bone-in meat and reinstituted the ban.

The Japanese insisted on inspecting all 35 U.S. meat processing plants before lifting the second ban. Japanese inspectors visited the plants in June and July; 34 plants met Japanese approval.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it will have an ongoing BSE surveillance program. USDA will inspect 40,000 animals each year, more than 10 times the testing level required by the World Animal Health organization.

“Our testing is well above the international requirement,” Chase said. “I think we’re doing a more than sufficient job of checking our beef and ensuring it is safe from BSE.”