US beef interests hope steps in coming months will put them closer to expanded trade with lucrative Asian markets worth at least another $1 billion in trade, industry sources said on Tuesday.
On Thursday, US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns will welcome his Japanese counterpart, Norihiko Akagi, in a Washington visit that will include talks on US beef exports to the Asian nation.
Akagi took the post only last month, replacing a predecessor who committed suicide. But the new official is already facing problems amid reports that he fudged financial statements. And his boss, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, suffered a devastating defeat in elections this month.
"It is encouraging that ... almost immediately after the election is over, THE Japanese agriculture minister is here to engage in dialogue," said Gregg Doud, an economist at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, an industry group. Akagi also will meet with US Trade Representative Susan Schwab.
The Bush administration has been pressing Tokyo- so far to little avail - to relax import rules in place since mad cow disease surfaced in the United States in 2003.
Last year, Japan partially lifted its ban, but exporters are eagerly pressing for permission to ship beef from older cattle than currently allowed. Their case was strengthened in May by a ruling from the World Organisation for Animal Health, which gave the United States a "controlled risk" status for beef safety. But it is up to Japan to decide on any new import rules.
One industry source, asking to remain anonymous, said Akagi could not announce any changes to import rules until a panel of scientists in Japan makes a safety recommendation. That recommendation is expected in August, but several other steps remain before wider trade can resume.
Doud sees a chance to regain booming trade with Japan, worth an annual $1.4 billion before the mad cow scare. "The big piece that we're missing is moving Japan from 20 months on to getting them fully open. In dollars-and-cents terms, that's about a billion dollars," he said. Sales and exports through the third week of July were 21,200 tonnes, far above the 1,100 tonnes in the same period of 2006. But US beef, pork and poultry exporters have been plagued by a series of snafus in recent months involving shipments of beef not authorised by other countries' import rules.
The industry also is expecting South Korea to make a decision by the end of September that could open that country's beef market to more US products.
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