TOKYO, Sept. 20 — As of September 18, 2017, the Taiwanese government has lifted a ban on beef imports from Japan and ended the 16-year-old restriction imposed in 2001 following an outbreak of BSE or mad cow disease in Japan. The beef from Japan must come from cattle under 30 months old, according to the authorities, but the conditional deregulation is likely to add a new momentum to the growth of Japanese beef export, considering beef consumption in Taiwan is growing and dishes using Japanese beef is getting more popular among Taiwanese tourists to Japan.
Japan still has to wait for the Taiwan government’s approvals for its export facilities, and “the time required for the certification process may differ country by country,” according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s division of food safety of Japan. So it’s not clear when Japan can resume the export. On September 19, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ken Saito said after the Cabinet meeting, “Japan is ongoingly expecting that the approvals will be given soon,” and showed the expectations for the early resumption of the beef export.
In 2016, Japan sold 18.6 billion yen or approximately 2,000 tons of beef mainly to Hong Kong, the U.S., and Cambodia. For Japan, which aims to raise the export value of agricultural, forest and fishery products and food to 1 trillion yen, beef is one of the items with high growth potential.
Taiwan is a very important market, among others. The country with a population of 23 million relies on imports for more than 90 percent of its beef demand, with most foreign beef coming from the United States and Australia. According to the Farm Ministry, its beef consumption is growing every year. Japanese agricultural, forestry and fishery products are already popular in Taiwan, so the resumption of beef import from Japan will likely to boost the demand for Japanese beef.
However, the restriction remains over the beef from animals aged over 30 months, and many Japanese beef brand producers currently sell beef from cattle of more than 30 months old. It may be a remaining problem to slow down the export expansion.
The Japanese government has been asking for the removal of the ban since 2004 and promoting bilateral efforts to build an ensured safety management system between the two countries. Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health of Taiwan announced in July this year that the country would conditionally lift the ban, and the removal of the restrictions was officially announced on September 18, after a two-month-long request for comments.