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Vilsack confindent in getting beef market share back

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says given the opportunity, the U.S. can win back its share of the Japanese beef market. The secretary is in Japan this week trying to get restrictions lifted from U.S. beef in place since the 2003 discovery of BSE in the U.S.

The U.S. share of the Japanese beef market in 2003 was 49 percent. Last year it was 14 percent. Vilsack is confident that high quality will sway the Japanese back to U.S. beef.

“I think it has, in the past, had a very high level of acceptance, understanding and appreciation for high quality,” said Secretary Vilsack in comments provided by the USDA. “I think we just simply have to have that opportunity to reacquaint Japanese consumers with that high quality and I think if we do, we will get our share of the market.”

Much of the Japanese beef market once dominated by the U.S. is now in the hands of Australia and New Zealand.