January 24, 2007

 

USDA: Talks with Japan needed to increase beef trade

 

 

US and Japanese government officials need to sit down for talks on how the countries can best move toward increasing beef trade, US Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said Tuesday (Jan 23).

 

Japan restricts exports of US beef by requiring that it be derived from cattle under 21 months old. Johanns said he would like to see that restriction lifted and stressed that he doesn't want the process to stretch out any longer than it has to.

 

Japan made it clear earlier this month that it wants to send auditing teams back to the US to once again to inspect US beef processing plants before considering a move to lift the restriction.

 

But USDA's Johanns told reporters Tuesday he has not agreed to that.

 

"We haven't solved the issue yet with Japan as to what process, if any, is involved for the next step in opening up their market," he said. "Today I just simply cannot commit to a second audit because we haven't solved that process with Japan."

Japanese Agriculture Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka--speaking to reporters after a Jan-11 meeting with Johanns here--insisted on conducting new audits of the US beef plants that have been exporting to Japan for the past six months. Japan previously conducted audits of US beef plants before it eased its ban on US beef.

 

Matsuoka also emphasised that Japan was not ready to enter into any new negotiations on lifting the restriction and allowing US beef shipments to increase.

 

But Johanns said Tuesday: "My hope is that we can sit down with Japan and decide what our next steps are. Ultimately, we just want to move forward to get that market open based on international standards."

 

Japan banned US beef in Dec 2003 after the US announced finding its first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.

 

Japan began importing US beef again in Dec 2005 with the cattle-age restriction, but about a month later trade halted again after vertebral column--prohibited by Japan in US exports--was discovered in a veal shipment. It wasn't until July last year that Japan agreed once again to begin importing US beef, still with the cattle-age restriction.