Domestic beef purchases are set to climb this year as growing demand for affordable meat counters the first rise in import duties in 14 years.
Beef imports are likely to increase to the country's highest level since 2001 after growing more than 10 percent last year, said Shiro Ohashi, executive director of the Japan Meat Traders Association, in an interview in Tokyo on Thursday. Foreign beef is sought as a cheaper alternative to Japanese meat and fish, he said.
Beef consumption rose 6.8 percent in the seven months to Oct. 31, heading for the fastest annual expansion in at least 12 years, according to the latest data from the Agriculture Ministry. Home-grown production is unable to keep up with demand as elderly farmers are retiring without successors and as the domestic herd shrinks.