Australia Picks Up After the US in Beef Sales in Japan
Submitted by Bill Belew on Friday, 25 August 2006No Comment
The US used to sell about $1.4 billion worth of beef to Japan. No more.
Costco Japan is the only customer right now. And though Costco sales are brisk, they don’t sell a billion dollars worth.
The big supermarkets won’t sell US beef and Australia is happy to take up the slack.
The price, around $12/lb for Australian beef is comparable to the US price.
But, Australia has NEVER had a case of mad cow disease. And Japan likes that.
Call Japanese finicky. Call them unreasonable. But they know what they like and what they don’t like, what they will buy and what they won’t.
The US has no choice but to suck it up. The Japanese government’s response "It’s OK if no one buys U.s. beef."
What do you think?
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