Outbreaks of porcine epidemic diarrhoea (PED) continue to be reported, the latest in Ehime prefecture. With well over one million pigs lost to the disease.
Japanese pork production may be down by as much as five per cent for the last three months of this year due to PED. This is pushing up the price of local pork and increasing demand for imports, said Kenji Morita, director at the ministry’s meat and egg division in Tokyo.
Pork imports for the first five months of this year were up by almost eight per cent to more than 331,000 tons, according to Japan’s ministry of agriculture.
The US is the leading exporter of pork to Japan, according to the US Meat Export Federation. The latest statistics — for the first five months of 2014, show Japan imported more than 780,000 tonnes of US pork, which is two per cent more than in the same period of 2013 and the value of that trade was up three per cent.