Exporters stuck with beef hike

By LIAM DANN

Meat New Zealand says Japan has unfairly lifted its tariff on beef imports but there is nothing local exporters can do about it.

Japan - New Zealand's third-largest market for beef - has increased its tariff on refrigerated beef imports from 38.5 per cent to 50 per cent.

Meat NZ spokesman Neil Taylor said the move was not financially disastrous for the industry but it was a serious impediment to trade.

The cost would have to be borne by either the exporters or consumers in Japan, he said.

The so-called "snapback" tariff was allowed under World Trade Organisation rules if a country had experienced a dramatic surge in imports of a product.

Although it was technically correct that demand for imported beef had risen dramatically in Japan, this was really just a case of the market recovering from a mad cow disease-driven slump, Taylor said.

An outbreak of mad cow disease in Japan in late 2001 led to a plunge in beef consumption, but imports have rebounded as fears of the disease have gradually subsided.

Trade Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton said the Japanese move was unwarranted.