U.S., Japan Reopen Beef Trade

[frenchie]

U.S., Japan Reopen Beef Trade
meatingplace.com

After two long negotiating sessions on Tuesday via videoconference, Japan and the United States reached an agreement that night that should deliver U.S. beef to the Japanese market by the end of July. Japanese inspectors will arrive in the United States on Saturday to begin about a month of inspections of U.S. plants.

The two governments had clashed over what Japan would do if the United States sends another shipment of beef with banned material, as it did last year with a shipment of veal that contained spinal material. Japan wanted to suspend the violating plant from further export; the United States held that the shipment should simply be returned and, for the moment, appears to have won that concession.

Under the agreement, Japan will be allowed to send inspectors along on USDA surprise inspections of exporting plants, and said it will carefully check every shipment of beef as it enters the country.

 

[Oldtimer]

Nine in 10 Japanese businesses won't sell U.S. beef

Fewer than one in 10 Japanese restaurants and retailers plan to immediately stock U.S. beef once Japan resumes imports of U.S. product, according to a survey by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

Only 7.4 percent of businesses indicated they would immediately resume selling U.S. beef, once it ships to Japan, probably in late July.

Fifty percent of businesses said they had no plans to resume beef imports and some 30 percent said they would wait and see, depending on price, health concerns and other variables.

Nihon Keizai Shimbun polled 60 major restaurants and retailers. By comparison, 60 percent of businesses polled in November said they would stock U.S. beef.

Reaction currently is all over the proverbial map. Restaurant chain Yoshinoya D&C Co., known for its popular "gyudon" bowls of shaved beef on rice, said it is eager to resume sales of the dish with U.S. beef, which it says gives the dish its signature flavor.

However, a spokesman for supermarket chain Ito-Yokado Co. said, "We have no plan to sell U.S. beef for the time being, even if imports resume, because consumers are still concerned." The chain will carry U.S. beef when — and if — it believes consumer sentiment has changed.