Members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership saw their beef exports to Japan grow by more than half in the month of January. The members’ share of the market hit 56 percent, while U.S. beef exports to Japan grew 21 percent. However, the U.S. share of the market shrunk by six percent.
The industry website Meating Place Dot Com says the news comes on the heels of U.S. Trade Rep Robert Lighthizer saying he’d like to begin discussions on a bilateral trade agreement with Japan in March. U.S. producers lost out on Japan’s tariff decreases, which eventually will drop to nine percent, since President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the trade pact in 2017.
The Japanese Finance Ministry says TPP members Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Mexico shipped 33,000 metric tons of beef to Japan in January, up 56 percent year over year. The tariff rate for these countries dropped from 38.5 percent after the agreement took effect down to a current 27.5 percent.