After years of effectively being collateral damage to BSE-related trade bans, American lamb is finally welcome in Japan again.
On July 12, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced that Japan finalized technical requirements that will allow exports of U.S. lamb into the country for the first time in over 14 years.
“Japan presents an exceptional opportunity for significant export growth,” said U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) Chair Dennis Stiffler in the group’s response to the announcement. Stiffler is also a former chief executive officer of Mountain States Rosen, a processor and distributor of lamb.
“When cattle BSE broke in 2003, Japan shut down all ruminant product trade. Lamb was essentially collateral damage from the beef BSE issue.” — Peter Orwick
“Japan was a primary market for U.S. lamb before losing access, so obviously our lamb producers and the lamb industry are very excited about this opportunity to again export our quality products to an upscale market.”
American Sheep Industry (ASI) Association Executive Director Peter Orwick had much the same to tell WLJ. In short, Japan is an important market for lamb as well as beef.
“After nearly 15 years, [Japan is] essentially a brand-new outlet—a brand-new customer for our high-value middle meats of American lamb,” he said. “Japan is exciting because they will be that higher-end consumer for the restaurant trade.”
What happened?
Orwick explained that, due to how TSEs—transmissible spongiform encephalopathies—are regulated by most countries, trade in all ruminant meat was hit by trade bans after BSE was discovered in the U.S. in 2003.
“When cattle BSE broke in 2003, Japan shut down all ruminant product trade. Lamb was essentially collateral damage from the beef BSE issue,” he said. “What we didn’t expect was that it would take years and years to get the cattle and beef trade back, and then several more years to get lamb. None of us would have imaged it would have taken this long.”
According to USMEF, Japan’s 2017 lamb imports reached a record value of $168 million, up 26 percent year-over-year. This year, through May, imports have been up 43 percent by value (about $95 million) compared to the same time last year, while volume was up 28 percent to 12,265 metric tons.
“Even a share back from that lost market for our U.S. lamb companies will be worth millions and millions of dollars,” Orwick said.
He told WLJ that, while lamb and goat are not common ingredients in Japanese cuisine, there is a lot of demand for high-quality lamb middle meats for what he called western-style “white tablecloth” restaurants.
“Also, going back maybe a decade, there was a chain of Mongolian restaurants in Japan that were very popular and that was a huge outlet for lamb in the country.”
Both Orwick and USMEF’s President and CEO Dan Halstrom cited the unique, grain-finished product that U.S. lamb producers have to offer.
“We’re grain fed, by and large, particularly for that export market. That’s something that [Japanese customers] wouldn’t have access to much of today because they essentially trade with Australia, New Zealand and they have very, very little grain fed and their size and diet for the meat is totally different. I think that is why we were so popular when we were trading there.”
When asked what he sees for the future of U.S. lamb with the Japanese market open, Orwick described it as upbeat and exciting. — Kerry Halladay, WLJ editor
