January 18, 2005

Australia Beef Make Up 44% Of Japan Market Share

Australian beef has overtaken Japanese domestic beef in terms of market share, making up 44 percent of total market volume in Japan, an association of Australian meat producers said Monday.

Exports of Australian beef to Japan in 2004 surged 40.9 percent from the previous year to an all-time high of 393,471 tons, eclipsing the prior record of 325,699 tons posted in 2000, Meat & Livestock Australia said.

The MLA cited Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries figures as showing that between January and September 2004, 290,000 tons of Australian beef were supplied to Japanese consumers.

Japanese domestic beef, which has historically held the largest share of the market, made up 260,000 tons during the same period, or 44 percent of total beef in 2004.

In 2003, domestic beef had a 37 percent market share, Australian beef had 32 percent and U.S. beef 30 percent.

The steep increase in Japan-bound shipments of beef from Australia reflects an import ban on American beef Tokyo has kept in place since a case of mad cow disease was found in the state of Washington in December 2003.

Japan was the largest single market for Australian beef exports in 2004, accounting for 43 percent of the total 914,000 tons shipped overseas.

Japan, the United States and South Korea account for almost 91 percent of Australia's total beef exports in 2004.