Japanese Buyers Looking for Value-Added Processed Pork
Japanese Buyers Looking for Value-Added Processed Pork
Thanks to a strong yen, the high quality of U.S. pork products and USMEF marketing efforts, a team of Japanese pork buyers is in the U.S. looking at expanding purchases and paying for processing here instead of back home.
“Processing bellies in the U.S. by having them pre-sliced for shabu shabu and yakiniku is currently more cost-effective than doing it in Japan,” said Satoshi Kato, USMEF-Japan marketing manager. “It’s certainly good for the U.S. pork industry, since we will be shipping value-added items to Japan.”
USMEF-Japan’s Satoshi Kato (left), Erin Daley and Greg Hanes (right)
in the Denver office with the pork buyers team
Primarily funded by the Iowa Soybean Association, which the group visited on Monday, the team included representatives from a ham and sausage manufacturer, a leading retailer and a major trading company. This vertically integrated team included three key links in the distribution chain: an importer, a distributor and a prominent retailer who work together and are looking at ways to add value, increase profits and shift from Canadian to U.S. pork.
“I am impressed with the color, firmness and texture of the U.S. pork products I saw on this trip,” said the retail buyer. “We saw several excellent facilities that can provide what we’re looking for.”
The team has already ordered three test shipments and, if all goes well, commercial sales will follow.
Pork is the fastest growing protein among Japanese consumers and continues to expand, especially as seafood consumption declines. With a pork self-sufficiency rate of just 51 percent, Japan is forecast to remain the world’s largest importer over the next 10 years, accounting for 25 percent of global imports and 45 percent more volume than the next largest importer. Domestic production has peaked and is now declining, offering additional opportunity for U.S. exports.
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The U.S. Meat Export Federation (www.USMEF.org) is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, corn and soybean checkoff programs.
For more information, contact Jim Herlihy at jherlihy@usmef.org.
USMEF complies with all equal opportunity, non-discrimination and affirmative action measures applicable to it by contract, government rule or regulation or as otherwise provided by law.
Japanese Buyers Looking for Value-Added Processed Pork
Thanks to a strong yen, the high quality of U.S. pork products and USMEF marketing efforts, a team of Japanese pork buyers is in the U.S. looking at expanding purchases and paying for processing here instead of back home.
“Processing bellies in the U.S. by having them pre-sliced for shabu shabu and yakiniku is currently more cost-effective than doing it in Japan,” said Satoshi Kato, USMEF-Japan marketing manager. “It’s certainly good for the U.S. pork industry, since we will be shipping value-added items to Japan.”
USMEF-Japan’s Satoshi Kato (left), Erin Daley and Greg Hanes (right)
in the Denver office with the pork buyers team
Primarily funded by the Iowa Soybean Association, which the group visited on Monday, the team included representatives from a ham and sausage manufacturer, a leading retailer and a major trading company. This vertically integrated team included three key links in the distribution chain: an importer, a distributor and a prominent retailer who work together and are looking at ways to add value, increase profits and shift from Canadian to U.S. pork.
“I am impressed with the color, firmness and texture of the U.S. pork products I saw on this trip,” said the retail buyer. “We saw several excellent facilities that can provide what we’re looking for.”
The team has already ordered three test shipments and, if all goes well, commercial sales will follow.
Pork is the fastest growing protein among Japanese consumers and continues to expand, especially as seafood consumption declines. With a pork self-sufficiency rate of just 51 percent, Japan is forecast to remain the world’s largest importer over the next 10 years, accounting for 25 percent of global imports and 45 percent more volume than the next largest importer. Domestic production has peaked and is now declining, offering additional opportunity for U.S. exports.
# # #
The U.S. Meat Export Federation (www.USMEF.org) is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, corn and soybean checkoff programs.
For more information, contact Jim Herlihy at jherlihy@usmef.org.
USMEF complies with all equal opportunity, non-discrimination and affirmative action measures applicable to it by contract, government rule or regulation or as otherwise provided by law.