Producer Team Connects with Japanese Meat Buyers and Consumers in Tokyo

Last week a team of pork, beef, corn and soybean producers visited Tokyo to meet with Japanese meat buyers and other food industry professionals, and examine marketing opportunities for U.S. red meat. The team, which was hosted by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), also met with leading members of Tokyo’s food trade media. This was a highlight for Jolene Riessen, a corn, soybean and cattle producer from Ida Grove, Iowa, who viewed these meetings as an opportunity to reach out to Japanese consumers and educate them about U.S. livestock and meat production practices.

National Pork Board President Jan Archer, a pork producer from Goldsboro, North Carolina, was pleased to see U.S. pork successfully merchandised in Japan, but cautioned that the market is fiercely competitive and requires a firm commitment by the U.S. industry to reclaim market share.

TRANSCRIPT:

Joe Schuele: In this U.S. Meat Export Federation report, we hear from a team of livestock, corn and soybean producers visiting Tokyo to observe marketing opportunities for U.S. red meat. For Iowa corn grower Jolene Riessen, one of the trip’s highlights was the team’s ability to reach out to Japanese consumers through face-to-face meetings with Tokyo’s food trade media.

Jolene Riessen: It isn’t any different than back home, when you’re buying a local product that you want to know who is raising it, you want to know how it was raised – and you know once you taste it, it sticks in your brain and it’s there. An us being over here with USMEF and being able to put a face with a product that they are getting from a very, very long way away, that’s really huge.

Joe Schuele: Jan Archer, a North Carolina pork producer and president of the National Pork Board, was pleased to see U.S. pork successfully merchandised in Japan but noted that the market is fiercely competitive.

Jan Archer: The cold reality is we’ve lost some market share. The West Coast port slowdown really impacted us negatively, the inability for Japan to get affordable products when we were suffering with porcine epidemic diarrhea virus and we didn’t have a lot of product. We are facing competition from the EU, we are facing competition from Canada and we are facing some increasing competition from Mexico. So we are going to have to bring our ‘A’ game and really make sure that we are bringing value to that market and the U.S. Meat Export Federation has done a tremendous job of maintaining those relationships so that we have a way we can communicate the quality of our products. We are rightfully very proud of the pork we produce in the United States. And as long as we can price that competitively and use the people that we have on the ground, I think that we have some renewed business that we can look forward to. We are definitely fighting an uphill battle but we are up for the fight, and that’s are plan. We’re going to fight to get this business back.

Joe Schuele: For more on this team’s activities and other trade issues, please visit USMEF.org. For the U.S. Meat Export Federation, I’m Joe Schuele.