06/14/06 Non-fundable beef

Non-Refundable Beef Who is going to pay for 1,300 tons of U.S. beef imported by Japan? I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be back in one minute to discuss that. When Japan banned U.S. beef imports this January about 1,300 tons of beef had not cleared Japanese customs. That 1,300 tons had none of the backbone material that caused a special U.S. beef order imported into Japan to be rejected and initiated the new ban. I think the Japan Meat Trade Association would have liked to seen that beef clear Japanese customs since nobody is willing to pay for it now. The JMTA had hoped the U.S. government would have bought back the beef or the Japanese government would have reimbursed the trade association. At the time of the 2003 Japanese ban on U.S. beef as much as 13,000 tons were incinerated and insurance companies paid for the loss. This time the insurance people will not pay for the impounded U.S. beef. The Japanese government has not paid the cost of the beef and now the United States has refused to buy back the shipments since it was Tokyo's decision to halt imports. The Japan Meat Trade Association says it will consider how to respond to the U.S. decision. The value of the impounded beef is worth about 12 million dollars. Beef backbone in the one shipment of imported U.S. beef caused the new ban, but it looks like the U.S. is showing a long awaited backbone of its own by refusing to pay the traders. I'm Jeff Keane. Western Livestock Reporter 2/8/06 5/24/06