April 16, 2012

The US Meat Export Federation (USMEF) held a press conference in Tokyo, forecasting beef shipments to Japan to increase by 24% in 2012, to 150,000 tonnes.

While the USMEF continues its promotional efforts to further increase the consumption of US beef in Japan, they also noted the influence of the rising cost of beef production and subsequent increase in prices.

The weaker USD in recent years has largely assisted the recovery of US beef in the price-sensitive Japanese market. The average CIF value of US beef during 2011 was 6% lower than the 2003 average, despite the lower volume (45% of 2003) and higher chilled proportion (51% of total imports compared with 43% in 2003).

In the Australian beef export market, the trade noted an improvement in Japanese interest, partially assisted by an easing in the previous fierce competition from other markets for trimmings.