March 28, 2008

Australian beef retail sales in Japan recover

Retail sales of Australian beef in Japan has recovered in March after sluggish results the previous month, according to Japan's Agriculture & Livestock Industries Corp.'s point of sale data.

The average purchase volume of Australian beef in March has reached 9.1kg/1,000 customers, up 0.3 kilogrammes from February and exceeding the 8.9g/1,000 customers reached in March 2007.

The growth is because of increased supplies from Australia easing wholesale prices and providing retailers the opportunity to offer discount or value packs when appropriate.

Total beef retail purchases in February was 13.9kg/1,000 customers, up only 0.1 kilogramme on last year's average.

Sales were down 7.4 percent from February 2007 to 8.8kg/1,000 customers due to the decrease in chilled beef exports from Australia and the subsequent increases in wholesale and retail prices.