Japan beefs up plans to resume US cow imports

By Paul Basken

February 21, 2005

Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, has promised to move quickly on removing his country's remaining obstacles to resuming imports of US beef.

"The United States wants to shorten the duration, and we promised that we will make an effort," Hatsuhisa Takashima, spokesman for the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said after talks in Washington at the weekend between Mr Machimura and Ms Rice.

Japan halted purchases of US beef in December 2003 after the US found a case of mad cow disease. The return of US beef to the valuable Japanese market would affect Australia's beef exports, which have expanded in Japan since the US ban.

According to Meat & Livestock Australia, if only small amounts of beef are allowed back into Japan and Korea, Australian beef exports will rise 9 per cent in volume this year to 995,000 tonnes, a new record.

Exports to Japan, Australia's largest beef market, are forecast to reach 430,000 tonnes, 9 per cent above last year's record.

Japan in 2003 bought $US1.7 billion ($A2.1 billion) in American beef, the most of any country.

Japan agreed in October to resume buying beef from cattle younger than 20 months, as the risk of younger animals carrying the disease is believed to be minimal.

The countries then spent months negotiating how to determine an animal's age, and Japanese technical experts accepted a US system earlier this month.

- Bloomberg