April 13, 2006

Beef prices rising in Japan and Korea
 

Tight beef supply has pushed Japan's domestic beef prices higher this year, with prices of various grades of beef increasing across the board.

Japan's consumption of beef fell 13 percent in February while domestic supply was down 26 percent on-year, pulling total beef supply down 16 percent compared with the same period last year.

The market for domestic cattle has rebounded from the shock of BSE in Japan's cattle in 2001, with prices now surpassing those in 2001.

However, consumption of pork and chicken went up 7 percent and 4 percent respectively. Importers are reportedly increasing the amount of pork and chicken they are ordering.

Meanwhile, the Korean wholesale market remained strong this week.

Korea has yet to announce when a planned inspection of US plants would take place. According to the Korean Ministry of Agriculture, the Korean market cannot be reopened to US beef until the United States Department of Agriculture provides convincing evidence proving the exact age of the cow infected with mad cow disease in March.

As a result, wholesale prices of popular cuts continued to rise this week.

Australian exporters also noted strong buying interest for some Australian offal products, boneless beef and chilled grainfed beef over the past week.