Japan

Japan’s Ban Of Beef On The Bone Opens U.S. Export Opportunities

Japan’s Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry reportedly plans to ban sales of beef on the bone produced in countries that have reported a case of BSE – which includes Japan . The Japanese government has ruled that consumption of dorsal root ganglia (DRG) poses the same level of risk as other spinal cord tissue – which is already banned as a BSE-risk material. Sale of bone-in beef will not be allowed for consumption or for use in processed food according to Japanese officials. No date has been announced for imposition of the new regulations, but USMEF-Japan reports the new rule could be in effect by the end of 2003 or the beginning of Japan’s fiscal year (April 1, 2004).

USMEF believes the new Japanese regulation will create a market opportunity for U.S. exporters since the new restrictions do not affect U.S. exports of beef on the bone. The rule eliminates Japan’s sale of domestic short loins (T-bones, porterhouses, etc.) and other bone-in ribs (prime rib, etc.), while Japanese imports of these U.S. cuts are unaffected. The U.S. has never had a case of BSE and is free to continue bone-in shipments to Japan ; the current USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Beef Export Verification (BEV) program ensures that any Canadian beef imported by the U.S. is already excluded from U.S. beef exports to Japan. Some projections estimate U.S. exports of T-bone and bone-in ribs to Japan could increase by 2,000 metric tons (mt) annually based on current demand, with an additional 2,000 mt increase coming from pharmaceutical demand for bone products.

World Trade Organization

What Is The Next Step For the Meat Industry After Cancun?

USMEF Vice President, Trade Development Richard Fritz, who attended the WTO meeting as a U.S. advisor, reports the following observations from Cancun

“The failure of the WTO Ministerial in Cancun leaves many questions unanswered for the U.S. meat industry. If the talks are not resumed in the very near future, significant barriers to U.S. meat will remain in place longer than had been hoped. This includes high tariffs in South Korea Japan and elsewhere. Delays will hinder any significant discussion on changes in the Japanese variable levy system, worldwide safeguards, and tariff rate quota (TRQ) levels and administration.

“Given the mood at the end of the Ministerial, it is unlikely that talks will begin again soon and the original deadline to complete the Doha Round will be missed. Some of the G-23 nations, which claim to represent two-thirds of the world’s farmers, say they would like to continue to talk about ‘improving the world’s trade in agricultural product.’ That is, if the G-23 is able to stay together and negotiate as a unified block. It is clear the developing world will continue to push for lower domestic support and elimination of export subsidies in any future negotiations. The world cotton market, basically U.S. subsidies, is also a target for many developed and developing nations.

“USTR must now decide on how, or if, to pursue bilateral and multilateral trade agreements. Many of the G-23 countries are also involved in ongoing trade talks with the U.S.This includes several of the Central American countries included in the CAFTA talks.

“Agriculture issues are scheduled to be discussed at the CAFTA talks this week in Nicaragua (USMEF Vice President, Western Hemisphere Homero Recioand I will attend these talks). They will be the first held after the WTO failure and may set the tone for future discussions.

“Other bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) the U.S. is pursuing (Morocco Southern Africa , CAFTA, FTAA, Australia Colombia Egypt ) with G-23 and non-G-23 nations will now be the focus for the U.S. meat industry. Without a comprehensive change in trade structure, the only way to improve market access issues is through such FTAs. Unfortunately, such an approach does not solve many of the problems facing the meat trade. For example, FTAs or bilaterally negotiated changes for meat are unlikely with Japan Korea and the EU.

“It is important to note that although agriculture is being blamed for the failure of the talks, they broke down over the EU's insistence that the ‘Singapore ’ issues be addressed at the same time India and Malaysia voiced their strong opposition to discussing these issues. Japan was also dismayed on how the Singapore issues were handled by the WTO.”

Korea Office Change

Korea Director Brad Park left USMEF employment September 17. Joel Haggard, USMEF vice president Asia Pacific, (jhaggard@usmef.org) is currently in Seoul and managing the Korea office.

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