Agricultural News
Beef and Pork Exports to Japan May Not Be Seriously Slowed by Earthquake and Tsunami
Mon, 14 Mar 2011 11:32:00 CDT
As the world continues to watch the catastrophe that is unfolding in Japan- Steve Meyer and Len Steiner report in their electronic publication "The Daily Livestock Report" that Japan's ability to import pork and beef has not been seriously damaged by the earthquake of last Friday and the resulting tsunami.
Here are some of the key points they make about the situation in Japan:
"Japan is the largest customer in terms of value for U.S. pork and beef. Japan was the largest customer for pork cuts in terms of
volume and 3rd largest customer for beef cuts in terms of volume in 2010.
"According to our sources, much of the U.S. beef and pork that goes to Japan is delivered to ports from Tokyo southward. Several
news reports have pointed out that, even though they were almost all closed on Friday (Saturday in Japan), most of those ports
were not heavily damaged and were expected to be open again this week.
"Refrigeration is indeed an issue but reports indicate that the power grid is operational in many areas and power will be diverted and
re-routed to areas in need just as it would be here in the U.S. The hardest hit areas obviously do not have a working power delivery
system, so there will be problems in serving those areas and some product will no doubt be lost.
"We have to remember that whatever is lost in terms of food products as well as buildings, roads, cars, planes, etc. will be replaced
and the process of replacement will BOOST the Japanese economy in the months to come. Economies work when money
moves and the loss figures we see do not mean that XX billion yen will be thrown down a rat-hole. They mean that XX billion yen
will be spent to repair the damage and will thus be paid out for labor, materials, energy and the like, boosting GDP. Again we
don't mean to be crass or uncaring about the suffering and loss, but those are the facts, The short-term impact may indeed be negative
but stocks of food and other items will eventually be replenished and that process will be a positive for U.S. exports."
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