The influence of BSE in Japanese market still exists

Introduction: it has been six months since the first case of BSE was found in Japan on September 10, 2001 Has there been any change in the consumption of beef in the Japanese market? The answer can be very simple, that is, consumers still have deep-rooted questions about the safety of beef, and the degree of mistrust is still so deep From September to December, it was a period deeply affected by the panic of mad cow disease But to the new year, which the Japanese attach great importance to, food consumption is the most popular, and beef is no exception Beef consumption in the Japanese market once recovered, and no fourth case of mad cow disease was found But one by one, the new Japanese meat producers have forged beef production places The epidemic of cattle and the greed of people make the Japanese beef consumer market, which has already recovered, fall into a downturn again, and the panic of mad cow disease cannot be removed But in different regions and sales places, the consumption of beef is not the same First, the beef sales in Japanese supermarkets Japanese supermarkets can say that there are all kinds of goods, the price is relatively reasonable and moderate, so consumers have more opportunities to patronize Beef sales in supermarkets are gradually moving away from the coldest period For example, in the "ITO yanghuatang" supermarket, although the current sales amount of beef is only 60% to 70% of the same period in 2001, compared with the half decrease in sales in October 2001, after all, it has increased, and mainly started to recover from the end of the year when the commodity market was booming And in some other supermarkets, sales of beef have gradually recovered "Japanese ham" company is the largest meat company in Japan After the mad cow disease, the amount of beef sold by the big company decreased by about 40% compared with that before September 2001, and it has not recovered to the level before September 2001 In addition, the curry club brand launched by the family food company, which has the largest sales volume of beef for domestic use, to the market in mid February also missed and lost good sales opportunities Wholesale beef prices in the Japanese market have also recovered slowly March 8: in the meat market of the central wholesale market of Tokyo Metropolitan, Japan, the cut beef market, i.e the castration used for advanced barbecue and the 1203 yen per kilogram of cattle a44 specification, is about 40% lower than that before the outbreak of mad cow disease panic At the end of last year and the beginning of this year, there was a rise in beef price, but it soon turned to a correction The BSE scare also affected the fact that beef imports from countries without BSE had fallen by 30 to 40 per cent for three months in a row In 2002, Japan's beef imports from the United States will increase correspondingly, and the reduction is estimated to be limited to 20%, the president of the United States Meat Export Association said at a press conference Now the biggest reason why the resumption of beef demand in Japan has been delayed is that there have been repeated incidents of disguised meat in Japan "Snow print food" disguises imported beef and beef from different places of origin in China, which leads to further escalation of consumer distrust of beef consumption After February, Japan's whole farm "chicken food" and other consumers' concerns about the safety of eating expanded to the whole variety of meat again after the improper labeling of pork and chicken, which can replace beef In the Japanese meat industry, that is, between meat producers and retailers, it is currently planning to build a "resume" system of consumer to commodity circulation on the basis of producer groups, so as to find out where commodities come from, where they go, and ensure the safety of meat But the journey will be long, and it can't be smooth, because there are many uncertainties After the third case of BSE was found in Japan in December 2001, the new BSE infection has not been found again, and there are some calm cases in the market The three cattle infected with mad cow disease were all old cows after they stopped using milk, so the farmers who raised the cows pushed the old cows after they stopped using milk to the meat market According to the Japanese Ministry of agriculture and forestry, by the end of 2001, the number of such cattle that could have been used for meat had reached about 44000 After such a large number of cattle remained in the hands of farmers and could not be processed, it had increased to 54000 by January this year What's more, the old cows can't do beef processing, and the new small cows can't be raised, so the problem of difficult management of dairy farmers has become prominent The Ministry of agriculture and forestry decided to launch the purchase of "old cows" for 40000 yen per cow from February This system is used to promote the listing of old cows However, the market reaction remains to be seen because the moving price is not so fast Some members of Congress urged the government to abolish the examination of mad cow disease, which has acquired "old cows" But now if we don't do a full head inspection, the safety of beef is still greatly reduced, and it's impossible to cancel the routine inspection The reason why the dairy farmers can't deliver the abandoned "old cows" is that until now, the infection way of three mad cow diseases is still unclear However, in the investigation so far, Japan only knows that meat and bone meal was imported from Italy, where BSE was found before June 1998 The possible pressure treatment for removing infection of this part of meat and bone meal may not be sufficient, and the evidence of this kind of meat and bone meal mixed into cattle feed has not been found so far Japanese consumers are still skeptical about the safety of beef, to a lesser extent However, the price of beef in the market has never recovered and is in a continuous downturn.