US sees quick restart of beef trade to Japan

HONG KONG (Reuters) – U.S. beef shipments to Japan could
resume “within the next week to 10 days,” U.S. Agriculture
Secretary Mike Johanns said on Monday after Tokyo lifted a
two-year-old ban.

“We welcome this news. It is very, very good news,” Johanns
said at a briefing on issues the United States would press at
this week’s ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization
in Hong Kong.

“We’ve heard that beef could be headed toward Japan
certainly within the next week to 10 days.”

Japan banned U.S. beef in December 2003 following the
discovery of a U.S. case of mad cow disease. The ban was lifted
on Monday, allowing the import of beef from cattle aged up to
20 months.

Japan’s decision to lift the beef ban is “effective right
away,” although Japanese inspectors still have to certify U.S.
packing plants comply with Japanese requirements, Johanns said.

“We don’t anticipate any problems there. We hope that sign
off on those plants could literally occur within the week,”
Johanns said.

Johanns has spent a huge chunk of his time fighting to
reopen the market since taking over as agriculture secretary
early this year. The issue has been a major irritant in
U.S.-Japan trade relations, as many lawmakers became infuriated
with Tokyo’s slow moves to re-open trade.

He said Japan’s decision was “great news” for American
ranchers and Japanese consumers, who were the number one export
market for U.S. beef before the ban.

The United States annually exported some $1.4 billion worth
of beef to Japan before it was cut off.