Japan | | Pork Imports Surged In April As Safeguard Was Lifted | On May 29...

On May 29, the Japanese government released import data for April which revealed a surge of pork imports for the first month without safeguard duties since last July. Pork imports for April 2002 were 94,291 mt with imports of U.S. product at 30,440 mt and Danish imports reaching 30,059 mt. In April, U.S. imports of frozen pork into Japan reached 19,306 mt, a new record. The last time U.S. imports of frozen pork exceeded 19,000 mt in one month was June 1996 just before safeguard tariffs took effect. In general, Japanese imports of frozen pork rise dramatically when importers believe that the safeguard will be triggered. In 2001, monthly imports of U.S. frozen pork averaged nearly 13,000 mt for the three months preceding the introduction of safeguard duties in August. For 2002, Japan will impose safeguard duties if total pork imports for April to June (the 1st quarter of the Japanese fiscal year) exceed 207,037 mt. Japan will reach this trigger level if imports average more than 56,000 mt for May and June. Once triggered, the Japanese Pork Safeguard raises the gate price 24.6 percent. To view graphs showing Japanese imports of pork on a monthly basis from January 1996 to present, please visit http://www.usmef.org/Misc_News/02_SafeguardGraphs.pdf.

For background information about the Japanese Pork Safeguard, please see the USDA July 2001publication, Japan's Safeguard on Pork Imports, at :
http://www.fas.usda.gov/dlp/highlights/2001/japansafeguard.pdf.