July 20, 2012

Japan's Fukushima beef sales continue to remain low

Following the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March last year as the food scare over radioactive contamination persists, Fukushima beef prices and three nearby prefectures remain low one year after a temporary ban on shipments was imposed.

In July last year, beef from Fukushima and several other prefectures was found to be tainted with radioactive cesium exceeding a provisionally set regulatory limit of 500 becquerels per kilogramme. The government banned shipments of beef from the four prefectures -- Iwate, Miyagi and Tochigi as well as Fukushima. The ban was lifted in August last year on condition that all cattle in the prefectures would be tested for radioactive contamination.

After the nuclear accident, consumers across the country began to avoid eating beef from cattle which might have eaten feed tainted with radioactive substances. By May this year, however, the national average of prices of Japanese beef traded in the Tokyo market went back up to JPY1,683 (US$21) per kilogramme, or 93% of the level in February last year prior to the nuclear accident.

Still, the prices of Fukushima-produced beef are JPY1,342 (US$17) per kilogramme, or 77% of what they used to be in February, although they rebounded 34 percentage points from the lowest post-crisis level. The prices of beef produced in Tochigi Prefecture stand at 94% of the February 2011 level, while the figure for beef from Iwate Prefecture is 91% and that for Miyagi Prefecture beef is 88%.

"I've shipped about 70 head of cattle after the shipment ban was lifted but no beast has generated profit," says a livestock farmer in the Fukushima town of Ono, adding Fukushima cattle ranchers are barely making ends meet with compensation from Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant.

After beef shipments resumed in August last year, Fukushima and the three other prefectures tested all carcasses of slaughtered cattle for radioactive cesium. Only two head of cattle from Fukushima out of a total 32,563 processed between April and June this year exceeded the maximum regulatory limit of 100 becquerels per kilogramme.

Although the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare gives assurances about the safety of the feed eaten by the cattle in the four prefectures, retailers are more worried than consumers about the quality of beef from the four prefectures, according to a wholesaler in Tokyo. "Retailers are avoiding buying beef from the four prefectures due to fear they'll be saddled with unsold products," the wholesaler said.

How to get rid of some 6,800 tonnes of irradiated straw meant to be used as cattle feed in the four prefectures also poses a problem. The bulk of such straw still sits on the premises of livestock farmers. The Environment Ministry intends to dispose of straw and other waste tainted with over 8,000 becquerels of radioactive matter at a final processing site to be set up within three years in areas where such highly irradiated waste lies in abundance.

Miyagi Prefecture began to set about readying temporary storage sites in cooperation with local municipalities. Already some 60 sites have been completed and about 30 more are to be set up in the future.

A Miyagi official says, however, that a complete solution of the problem will have to wait until final dumping sites are created.