AUSTRALIAN beef is losing traction to US meat in Japan owing to the appreciation of the dollar against the greenback.
Japan's recent earthquake and tsunami disaster and its subsequent demand for secondary cuts and grinding beef has emphasised the loss of competitiveness.
According to Meat and Livestock Australia, March sales reports from the Japanese food service and retail associations illustrated the post-quake trend in Japan: firm sales at supermarkets, but a significant decline in sales and customer numbers at restaurants.
Beef exports to Japan in March actually increased by 0.6 per cent on the same period last year, to 43,041 tonnes shipped weight, the MLA reported.
Australian exporters had been benefiting from this lift in demand, but with the dollar hitting US110c this week, Japanese importers are switching to US meat in droves.
Japan's imports from the US for the month of March jumped 40 per cent year-on-year, to 7788 tonnes according to Japan's Ministry of Finance, assisted by the weak US dollar against the Japanese yen.
Both chilled and frozen beef imports from the US increased, reaching 4556 tonnes (51 per cent higher year-on-year) and 3232 tonnes (up 28 per cent year-on-year), respectively, MLA reported.
Imports from Australia for March declined 5 per cent year-on-year to 31,061 tonnes.
As a result, Japan ox prices fell for the fourth week running on the home front, closing on Monday at 187.50c/kg liveweight, down from 210c/kg a month ago.
Average medium cow prices slipped from 165c/kg to 146c/kg over the period.
