March 21, 2006

Japan rejects US call to end beef ban, approves Canadian beef

Japan rejected a US call for the immediate resumption of US beef imports, saying Japanese consumers will not buy the meat unless concerns over their safety have been cleared up.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, the government spokesman said that first and foremost, the Japanese, being health conscious consumers, would not buy American beef even if imports were resumed without proper assurances.

On Saturday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, meeting Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso in Sydney, called on Tokyo to end the ban.

Japan, which had been the largest overseas market for US beef, banned US beef in December 2003 after a mad cow case was discovered in a US herd. The country ended the embargo in December last year but imposed a new ban just one month later after a shipment violated Japanese safety guidelines.

Meanwhile, all except one of the eight Canadian meat processing plants that export to Japan have been approved by Japanese inspectors, a government statement said Monday. One facility failed to gain approval because of inadequate information, the Japanese Health and Agriculture ministries said in a joint statement. The statement did not indicate what the information was.

The statement concludes a one-week inspection of Canadian beef processing facilities by Japanese inspectors. 

Canadian beef exports resumed in December after a two-year ban. Canadian officials admit it might take years to rebuild the confidence of Japanese consumers who have mostly defected to Australian beef.

The Japanese market is vital to the recovery of Canada's beleaguered beef industry, which had suffered US$7 billion in lost exports in the two-year ban.