July 6, 2007

Japan May beef imports up 25 percent on-year
 

Japan imported 42,778 tonnes of beef in May, up 25 percent on-year, according to Meat & Livestock Australia Limited (MLA).
 
Frozen items mainly accounted for the increase, registering an import volume of 24,119 tonnes amid good demand for lower priced products.
 

Chilled beef import volume rose 7 percent from the same period last year to 18,659 tonnes.

Australian beef shipments to Japan accounted for 83 percent of total beef imports in May, rising 19 percent on-year to reach 35,416 tonnes. Of this amount, chilled beef accounted for 16,562 tonnes, down 1 percent on-year. Frozen beef accounted for the remaining 18,854 tonnes, up 44 percent on-year.

Japan imported 2,193 tonnes of US beef in May.

For the first five months of 2007, Japan imported 195,691 tonnes of beef, up 8 percent compared with the same period last year.

In June, Australia shipped 30,604 tonnes swt of beef to Japan, down 12 percent on-year, according to the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF). Chilled Australian grainfed beef sales to Japan dropped the most by 18 percent on-year to 10,707 tonnes.

The fall in June was mainly due to appreciation of the Australian dollar against the US dollar and Japanese yen. Delayed rains in some parts of Australia have also affected cattle supplies and raised production costs, lowering price competitiveness of Australian beef to some extent.

For fiscal year 2006/07, Australian beef exports rose 9 percent on-year to reach a record high of 973,880 tonnes swt, said DAFF.