06/22/06 Japan talks beef

Japan talks beef. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. Yesterday U.S. Ag Secretary Mike Johanns announced Japan had agreed on a framework to re-open its market to U.S. beef. He said quote, "Although this agreement is another step toward the resumption of beef trade with Japan, I will not be satisfied until U.S. beef is once again accepted into the Japanese market." The deal apparently confirms the process already in place - in which Japan must complete audits of U.S. beef plants before resuming imports. Jay Truitt - Vice President of Government Affairs for the National Cattlemen`s Beef Association - says the agreement doesn`t mean U.S. beef will start flowing to Japan by any specific date. That`s why he says cattlemen should keep talking to their lawmakers about the issue. TRUITT: There are still more questions than answers and anytime there are questions within a process our experience has been that people shouldn't jump the gun or get too excited until they have some clear indicators of where to go. Don't get caught up in the hoopla and keep the pressure up on your political leaders within this process to make sure they hold everybody's feet to the fire to make sure the cattle producers win at the end of the day. That's what we're really after. Wednesday`s announcement by Johanns comes ahead of a visit next week by Japan`s prime minister to the White House. Truitt says - with a framework in place - NCBA is hopeful President Bush and his Japanese counterpart will discuss specifics about the resumption of beef trade. TRUITT: We hope that the President and the Prime Minister actually have the discussion about what is the day that product from the United States; new product from the United States will begin to flow to Japan. There may be a process that allows them to take the product that is in cold storage in Japan that's been held up all this time; but what is the day this is going to have new product flowing and more importantly, what is the process going to be for us to resolve the remaining issues that are out there. Truitt points out there are still plenty of critical issues remaining between the U.S. and Japan when it comes to beef trade. TRUITT: We still have to get to a point at some point where we are trading on sign space international standards between the United States and Japan. That's when the U.S. cattle industry will be happy and we hope that we get there sooner than later but we don't even see a light at the end of the tunnel on discussions at this point for cattle under 30 months. This step that has been taken is just step one in what is some undefined length of a process. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.