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Nakagawa Rejects U.S. Call for Importing Beef From Older Cattle

Posted on: Sunday, 15 January 2006, 15:00 CST

By Kohei Murayama, Kyodo News International, Tokyo

Jan. 14--WASHINGTON -- Visiting Japanese agriculture minister Shoichi Nakagawa rejected his U.S. counterpart's call Friday for talks on raising the age limit of cattle eligible for beef imports to Japan to 30 months from the current 20 months.

"It will not serve our purpose to help, to embark upon such discussions at this point in time, for the sake of Japanese consumers and also for the sake of U.S. producers," Nakagawa said in a joint press conference with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns after their meeting.

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Nakagawa stressed the need now instead to work on quelling Japanese consumers' concerns about the safety of U.S. beef if the United States wants to regain the 30 percent share it had in the Japanese market before Japan slapped the import ban on American beef in December 2003 when the first case of mad cow disease was discovered in the United States.

Japan lifted the two-year-old ban last month with the 20-month age limit in line with an agreement it made with the United States in October 2004.

Referring to an internationally recognized age limit of 30 months, Johanns said, "Whether it is Japan or any other country, we will always urge them to comply." Otherwise, Johanns welcomed the import resumption and expressed confidence about regaining consumer faith in Japan.

Nakagawa said the resumed imports got off to a "good start," but reiterated that starting discussions on the age limit would undermine the process "as the Japanese consumers are still perplexed about U.S. beef ... and if the U.S. government is hoping to resume the share, which was previously enjoyed by U.S. beef."

"I think that Japanese consumers are happy to be able to again consume U.S. beef, but at the same time they feel rather perplexed as if they are tasting and consuming something that is entirely new to them," Nakagawa said.

Japan was the largest importer of U.S. beef before the ban.

Meanwhile, Nakagawa and Johanns acknowledged the huge gap between the two nations over farm market access, which is one of key issues of the ongoing Doha round of trade negotiations under the World Trade Organization.

"The United States is seeking substantial improvements of market access," Nakagawa said. "As Japan is the No. 1 net importing country in the world, our position is different in terms of market access." But both Nakagawa and Johanns stressed the need to maximize efforts to bridge the gap.

Johanns said, "We do have a lot of work, especially on market access."

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Source: Kyodo News International, Tokyo

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