January 18, 2013

Despite anticipation that local beef production in 2013 will ease, due to slow demand and weak prices, Japan's 2013 beef market started with traditionally high sales of Japanese Wagyu at retail.

The imported beef trade is also getting back into action for 2013, with frozen stocks reportedly lower in the wholesale market. Concerns over the depreciating Japanese yen have been prevalent among buyers, while many businesses saw the recent climb of the Nikkei average on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as a positive sign of the economic recovery.

Trade news Shokuniku Sokuho forecast imported beef volumes in 2013 to remain steady with the previous year level, noting that "it is hard to imagine a sudden influx of affordable US beef into the market as an immediate result of the age relaxation".