Japan looks to Malaysia to achieve farm export goals

Japan’s agriculture ministry is preparing to start negotiations with the 11 other members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) aimed at boosting its farm exports, reports Nikkei Asian Review.
Among its first priorities, the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries plans to start talks as early as this month with Malaysia, focusing on quarantine procedures and other conditions for exporting Japanese chicken. Under the TPP free trade agreement, Malaysia will end a 20 percent import tariff on chicken immediately after the pact takes effect.
The Japanese government plans to progress the talks with other TPP members with the view to raising its farm exports by 60 percent to JPY1.0 trillion (US$8.0 billion) per year by 2020.
Japan, the U.S. and 10 other Pacific Rim countries reached broad agreement over the TPP deal in early October of 2015 but details over specific export terms are still to be finalized. Import tariffs on 98 percent of Japanese agricultural exports will eventually be eliminated.

McDonald’s Japan has first loss in 11 years after Husi scandal

• McDonald’s Japan is forecasting a net loss of JPY17 billion (US$156.7 million), largely as a result of a lack of consumer confidence after a food safety scandal hit the quick service restaurant chain in July. This marks the first net loss for McDonald’s Japan in 11 years.
  The loss of business for McDonald’s Japan came after supplier Husi Food Co., a subsidiary of the U.S. based OSI Group, took expired poultry and beef, then repackaged it with false expiration dates to a number of restaurant customers, including McDonald’s businesses in Japan and China. McDonald’s officials were unaware of what the Husi Food workers had done.
  The food safety scandal already has had a negative impact on McDonald’s global sales, with the company reporting its August sales slumping 3.7 percent globally and its sales for the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA) region declining 14.5 percent.
  Sara Casanova, CEO of McDonald’s Japan, said at a media briefing the company is making efforts to restore consumer confidence as quickly as possible.
  “Customers have expressed a lack of confidence in our food quality, and I take responsibility for that,” she said. “It’s our intention to try to turn this business around as fast as we can.”
  OSI Group has since apologized for the scandal, closed the plant in question and restructured business operations in Shanghai, where Husi was headquartered.

Avian influenza confirmed in Japan’s Kumamoto prefecture

An outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza has been confirmed at a farm in the Kumamoto prefecture in Japan, where 200 broilers have died from the virus. The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) on April 13 received notification of the avian influenza outbreak in Japan from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Japan.
This is the first report of avian influenza in Kumamoto since 2011.
According to the OIE report, 56,400 broilers were susceptible to the virus, with 200 fatal cases. The remaining 56,200 were destroyed.
Local veterinary officials had visited the farm affected by avian influenza in Kumamoto on April 12, immediately after being notified by the owner. The Kumamoto Livestock Hygiene Centre then confirmed that samples from the dead birds were consistent with an H5 serotype of avian influenza.
Movement restrictions have been imposed on farms within a 3-kilometer radius of the infected farm, and shipment restrictions have been imposed on farms within a 10-kilometer radius.

Cobb hosts Japanese chicken producers

Visitors from Matsusaka Farms spend a week visiting Cobb sites in Europe.

Japanese visitors from Matsusaka Farms and their customers gained insight into the latest technology in hatcheries, farms and processing plants during a weeklong visit to Cobb facilities in Spain and the United Kingdom. Cobb-Vantress is broiler breeding company.
The visit began at the grandparent stock hatchery at Cobb Española, based in Dueñas in northern Spain, which was completely refurbished in 2012 and boasts the latest technology in hatch equipment and energy efficient systems.
"It's always a pleasure to have visitors from overseas. This provides a great opportunity to have open discussions and share knowledge on different practices," said Rafael Gil Jr., general manager of Cobb Española which hosted the visit.
The group then travelled north to Leon, where they visited Oblanca, a customer of Cobb Española.  Brothers Oscar and Javier Oblanca, both involved in managing the family business, provided the group with a tour of their processing plant and a broiler farm.
In the United Kingdom, the visitors had a tour of Cobb Europe's new office in Colchester where they were given an overview of the current operations and heard about ongoing investment within the region to expand research and production facilities. Then the group visited one of Cobb Europe's United Kingdom customers Moy Park, where they saw a broiler farm and the company's processing plant at Anwick in Lincolnshire, one of the most advanced in Europe.
"Our customers were very impressed by the facilities shown to us by Cobb Europe and Cobb Española," said Iwao Osumi, president of Matsusaka Farms. "The biggest change I saw since my last visit to the United Kingdom and Spain over 20 years ago is the consolidation of companies within both markets. The demand for domestic chicken is also very high, which is something we would like to see grow in Japan."

Japan addresses domestic wheat supply concerns

Japan has a two-month inventory of Western White wheat, used in flour for cakes and other sweets, and concerns about a shortage after U.S. wheat imports were denied entry into the country are unwarranted, according to farm minister Yoshimawa Hayashi. Japan blocked the imports after unapproved genetically modified wheat was found growing in the U.S. state of Oregon, according to reports.
Imports from the U.S. are not expected to resume until the conclusion of the U.S. investigation into the strain of wheat, modified by Monsanto Co. for herbicide tolerance but never put into commercial production. "We're looking to the development of an investigation by U.S. authorities," said Hayashi. "But if the period of the halt is prolonged, we may have to consider the possibility of an earlier supply than usual of this year's locally grown wheat and the possibility of importing alternative types from abroad."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has conducted tests to identify the wheat strain and said there is no evidence that any genetically modified crops have entered the supply chain.

Nippon Chunky commissions Petersime for new hatchery

Nippon Chunky, Japan's Aviagen (Ross) Parent Stock distributor, has recently expanded its business with a brand new hatchery in Okayama Pref., Western Japan.
The new hatchery was installed and commissioned in April. It has a total setting capacity of about 26 million eggs per year, which are incubated in 39 Petersime BioStreamer 8S setters and 15 BioStreamer 4-H hatchers, all equipped with the latest Embryo-Response Incubation technology.
According to Toshiaki Ohtsuki, executive director of Nippon Chunky, Petersime was selected as a supplier for two main reasons. "The first is the excellent worldwide reputation of Petersime's incubators. And secondly, we can rely on the Petersime distributor in Japan, Hytem, which provides reliable and technically oriented support and advice,"  he explained. 

EU eases import restrictions on Japanese feed post-Fukushima

The EU has eased feed and food import restrictions on 11 Japanese prefectures originally placed in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident. Yamanashi, Shizuoka, Gunma, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Miyagi, Saitama, Tokyo, Iwate, Chiba and Kanagawa restrictions have been eased; however, the restrictions on imports coming from the Fukushima prefecture will remain until March 31, 2014.
The EU originally imposed import restrictions on feed and food products from Japan's radiation-contaminated areas on March 24, 2011. The EU has been relaxing import restrictions from Japanese prefectures based on periodic review since then, regarding any new releases of the hazardous matter to the environment. The European Commission had underlined that for a number of reasons, food safety risks from the nuclear accident in Japan are considerably low in the EU.

Japan broiler production estimated up 3 percent in 2012

Japan's broiler production is expected to increase by 3 percent in 2012 as Japan recovers from outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza and the earthquake in March 2011, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service's latest report.
In 2011, massive outbreaks of avian influenza and the earthquake largely disrupted Japan’s domestic production and distribution of broiler meat. On a month-by-month comparison, national output for January–July 2011 showed severe declines, although from August 2011 onwards output almost returned to its 2010 levels, according to the report. Broilers comprise over 90 percent of the Japanese poultry market and domestic broilers account for about 60 percent of Japan’s total broiler supply.
For the first half of 2012, as total distribution of broiler meat clearly outpaced solid consumption, the market was flooded with chicken meat. Surplus stocks appear to be putting a burden on Japan’s 2012 broiler market. For the month of June, the size of frozen broiler stocks was reported to have grown to 152,780 metric tons, adding 5,400 metric tons to unsold meat inventories at the end of 2011.
In 2011, Japan’s total broiler imports increased by 14 percent from 201 numbers, to 894,565 metric tons. Japan’s imports, which were made to respond to any potential shortages, partially contributed to the year-ending stocks, estimated up by 35 percent compared to the year-beginning 2011 at 147,000 metric tons.
Higher market prices for imported broiler meat, coupled with current surpluses, are expected to reduce imports in 2013, according to the USDA. Japan’s imports from the U.S. are projected to remain unchanged at 35,000 metric tons.