Brazil BSE Case Causes Japan Ban

Brazil BSE Case Causes Japan Ban

I’m KayDee Gilkey with today’s Open Range.

Last week Japan stopped all beef imports from Brazil, after learning that a Brazilian cow was found to have the protein believed to cause BSE.

Brazil is one of the world’s biggest exports of beef. A weak currency has helped in part to make it a good year for Brazil’s beef exports which are up 12 percent in volume and up 6 percent in value for a total of $4 billion for the year.

Joe Schuele, U.S. Meat Export Federation Communications Director, says that the news of the Japanese ban isn’t as big of deal as some in the media may have made it.

Schuele: “Japan had already limited its imports of Brazilian beef to cooked or heated-treated products because of foot and mouth disease concerns. So Japan has not been a major destination of Brazilian beef. I believe through October Brazilian exports to Japan were 1300 metric tons valued at about $6 million. So that by itself is not a big trade impact. The question is whether Japan’s move will trigger any reaction from Brazil’s leading markets which are Russia, Hong Kong, Egypt and Europe.”

The bigger news Schuele says is the way the world reacted to the Brazilian BSE case.

Schuele: “If they weather this case reasonably well that is probably actually good news in the long run for the United States because that tells us that BSE does not trigger the overreaction that it did a decade ago.”