January 28, 2008

Japan's beef consumption inches upward on re-entry of US products

Japan's beef consumption for the last 11 months to November 2007 increased by 3 percent over the same period in 2006, as the US resumes exports.

The Agriculture and Livestock Industries Corporation of Japan (ALIC) disclosed that the total beef consumption in November 2007 was 72,570 tonnes, up 7 percent over the previous year, taking the yearly total to 741,911 tonnes.

However, the 3-percent rise in consumption for 2007 is still 12 percent below the 936,250 tonnes consumed in 2003.

Analysts said that the improvement in beef consumption in Japan can largely be attributed to resuming US beef imports, which triggered competition between US and Australian beef.

Australian chuck and brisket cuts, the items that the US mostly sends to Japan, started to decrease in price around April 2007. By November last year, prices had fallen by 9 percent and 20 percent over the previous year.

Retail prices of chuck and brisket cuts remained almost unchanged, giving retailers opportunities to discount and sell in volume during high consumption period.

Beef rice bowl businesses in the food sector also grew in 2007, consuming large amounts of brisket cuts from both Australia and the US.

Japan looks on to improved consumption of beef in the market with the slow return of US products which were previously banned due to mad cow concerns.