Japan corn imports drop on tainted meat concerns

Japan's corn imports may drop 5% to 15.4 million metric tons overall in 2011 as a result of concerns about radiation-tainted meat, which have curbed livestock production, according to reports.
Beef imports rose 11% after it was discovered that stores sold meat from cattle fed with hay contaminated by radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant. Japan’s corn purchases in the first five months of 2011 fell 4.5% to 6.47 million metric tons, according to government data. Cargoes of feed corn fell 8.2% to 4.05 million metric tons.