December 2, 2010

Japanese beef imports down in October

Japan imported 33,513 tonnes slaughter-weight of beef in October, down 32% year-on-year, according to Japan's Ministry of Finance.

The fall was largely due to decreased intake from Australia (down 36% from October 2009), and possibly residual stocks in the market after the sharp increase in imports during September (up 43% year-on-year, the largest volumes since July 2005).

Frozen beef imports from Australia during October halved when compared with September (22,042 tonnes) to 11,535 tonnes, and were back 48% from 12 months earlier. Chilled volumes for the month also declined, falling to 11,318 tonnes - 17% below October 2009.

Imports from the US were down 10% on-year at 7,375 tonnes, with chilled volumes increasing 7% to 3,722 tonnes, while frozen shipments declined 23% to 3,653 tonnes. The CIF value of US frozen briskets in October averaged JPY340/kg (US$4.04/kg), down 18% from a year ago despite the reduced import volumes (down 26% to 2,643 tonnes).

In the 10 months to October 2010, total Japanese beef imports stood almost on par with 2009, at 402,574 tonnes swt (1,855 tonnes less or down 0.5%). Volumes from Australia and the US during the ten months totalled 286,326 tonnes (down 7% on-year) and 70,623 tonnes (up 23% from last year, but still only 32% of the pre-BSE 2003), respectively.