The information, which appears in the Japanese public body, was discussed in September and, although Javier Milei’s government is cautious while waiting to see how the events unfold, for experts it is a sign that The Asian country reactivated a process that had been pending continuity since 2019. Although there is much more to be done, it is an important step in the direction of the objective of making it possible to export from the entire country.
The expansion potential for Argentine meat exports
Strictly speaking, Argentina already sells beef to Japan from Patagonia, which is a region free of foot-and-mouth disease without vaccination. But the same cannot be said about the north of the region, that is, the rest of the country. This is because it is free of the disease but with vaccination.
Furthermore, from Patagonia there is only one meat processing plant authorized to export beef to that market. However, if the market were to open up to the rest of the country, the possibilities are endless. As an example, Japan is the third largest importing market for the product in the world, after China and the United States. In 2023 it imported 702,000 tons of meat. Its largest suppliers were the United States and Australia, which provided 48%.
The attractiveness of the Japanese market for South America
From this side of the world, Uruguay is also interested in the Japanese market. In 2023, the Latin American country sold 7,900 tons of bone-in beef. This is a much higher figure than the 28 tons placed by Argentine Patagonia for US$228,000.
As can be seen, the Japanese market has good commercial value. This means that it pays well for cuts. Last year it paid Argentina from US$4,249 per ton for cutting cuts to US$15,169 per ton for the loin. Other interesting values were also recorded such as US$14,970 for the wide steak.
In order to sell meat from above Patagonia, Argentina must meet a series of 15 requirements. What has just been known, which is the beginning of “the evaluation of risks related to the importation of fresh beef from the northern region of Argentina (foot-and-mouth disease vaccination zone)” is the eighth step. There remain the others that, however, are simpler.
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He Government The national government maintains a mixture of caution and expectation, considering that the recent advances are the result of efforts promoted by the current administration of Javier Milei. An example of these efforts is the visit of Fernando Vilella, former Secretary of Bioeconomy, to Japan last July, where he stated that there were no reasons to delay the opening of the market.
Then there were more. In August, the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, together with his Defense counterpart, Luis Petri, received representatives of the Government of Japan, Japanese legislators and officials from the embassy in the country at the Treasury Palace. They talked about beef and also defense issues. At that time, the Government highlighted that Japan is one of the main importers of beef worldwide, with a total value of US$2,929 million (503,939 tons) registered in 2023.
The Secretary of Production Coordination, Juan Pazo, and his counterpart from Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Sergio Iraeta, also participated in the meeting with the Japanese delegation. In addition, representatives of the National Agri-Food Health and Quality Service (Senasa) were also present.
A highly demanding market and limited opportunities for Argentine meat
The Asian country maintains a demanding market. Among other things, it seeks, as Uruguay already has, for there to be individual electronic traceability of the herd. Strictly speaking, starting next year Argentina will make electronic identification mandatory to serve this and other markets.
Víctor Tonelli, livestock consultant, referred to what the Japanese market would mean for Argentine beef. “Japan is the star market for world meat, particularly for quality meat with a percentage of marbling (intramuscular thickening) that our genetics, added to a good breeding and breeding system, are very capable of producing. It pays values well above the average of other markets but, in addition to achieving the income for which today there is only one plant enabled in the country in Patagonia, the cost of access is almost prohibitive with tariffs of 38%, this on the cost of the most freight and safe product placed in the port of Japan. Clearly, penetrating that market would mean getting closer to paradise,” he explained.
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