US beef makes slow return to Japanese market

TOKYO - Most Japanese store shelves are still empty of North American beef as only limited volumes have reached the country one month after it ended a two-year ban and agreed to resume buying the meat.

The US had been one of the top beef suppliers to Japan until Tokyo imposed a ban after the discovery of a case of mad cow disease there in December 2003, halting annual trade worth about US$1.4 billion ($2 billion).

Japan's retailers and food industry have been slow to respond to the trade resumption announced on December 12, saying they wished to gauge the response of the country's fastidious consumers - whose reaction so far has been cautious.

The view of Yoko Kasahara, a working mother with three sons, is shared by many.

"I won't be buying US beef because I'm very worried about the US system," said the 47-year-old Kasahara as she left a supermarket in central Tokyo.

"I just don't think the safeguard system in the United States is watertight."

Daiei, Japan's third-biggest retailer, said it had no immediate plans to offer US beef.

"We would like to see how customers respond to the re-opening of Japan's market," a spokesman said.

A few supermarkets have already sold North American beef but most of these are medium-sized operators outside of Tokyo.

The ban has been a boon to New Zealand producers, lifting their share of the market, which was traditionally dominated by the US and Australia.

- REUTERS