The US will once again be able to export lamb to Japan
Japan has banned these products after the United States was hit by a bovine spongiform encephalopathy outbreak back in December 2003.
“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,” said US Meat Export Federation (USMEF) Chair Dennis Stiffler, president of the Texas division of Halperns’ Purveyors of Steak and Seafood and former chief executive officer of Mountain States Rosen, a livestock producer-owned processor and distributor of lamb and veal products.
In 2017, Japan imported 22,192 metric tons of sheep and goat meat from the world valued at $169 million. Imports came primarily from Oceania, with Australia accounting for 61% of Japan’s imports and New Zealand accounting for 36%.
According to USMEF, through May 2018, imports were 43% ahead of last year’s pace in value at $95 million, while volume was up 28% to 12,265 metric tons.
In the past 14 years, the value of U.S. exports of sheep and goat meat to the world has more than doubled, growing from $7 million in 2003 to $15 million in 2017. In 2003, United States exported 38 metric tons of sheep and goat meat to Japan valued at $248,000. Sheep and goat meat exports to Japan are duty free.
This increase consolidated China as the main destination, followed by Europe, Israel and the Unit...
The behavior for each of the categories has been different since in the case of pork the country ...
According to SAPI data, as of January 8, 2025, the purchase price of lambs (live weight) was...
