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Japan cattle farmers fear US trade deal will be death knell
TOKYO, Sept 26, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – US and Japanese officials insist a hard-
won bilateral trade deal will be a “win-win”, but some Japanese cattle
farmers fear the agreement could sound the death knell for their embattled
sector.
Cattle farmers are already struggling to adjust to the terms of two major
free trade deals inked by Japan in recent years — the Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP) and an agreement with the European Union.
But they fear the US trade deal will put much greater pressure on them.
“We were able to maintain a market for our products in competition with
the TPP members, because our beef quality is good enough to compete, even if
imported beef was cheaper,” said Harumi Yoshikawa, an official in charge of
livestock at an agricultural cooperative in Hokkaido.
“But American beef rivals ours in terms of quality and in that sense we
are worried.”
Akio Kawai, 61, who runs a ranch of some 4,300 beef cattle in Shikaoi town
in northern Hokkaido, said: “Politicians are not thinking about us farmers at
all.”
He said he is determined to stay afloat “but others may think about
quitting this business”.
“Japanese beef may be delicious and offer a sense of safety to consumers,
but US beef is absolutely cheaper, and that’s attractive to some,” Kawai
said.
– Worries for the future –
Under the deal announced in New York on Wednesday, Japan will eliminate or
reduce tariffs on $7.2 billion worth of US food and agricultural products.
Milk cow farmers fear they too will struggle, despite assurances of
assistance from Japanese government officials.
The deal “will be a further blow to small cow farmers like us who keep
just 30 to 50 cows,” said one dairy and beef cattle farmer in Kanagawa
prefecture, south of Tokyo, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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“Various costs — the price of feed crops, salaries for workers — are
already weighing on us, and this deal will be another factor to worry about
in terms of the future of this business,” he said.
“I wonder if many cow farmers, many of whom are ageing, will decide to
quit the job,” he added.
“And I wonder if it’s right for Japan to lose these small-sized farmers…
who are the majority of the Japanese farm industry.”
Japan came to the negotiating table reluctantly, after President Donald
Trump’s administration withdrew from the TPP and threatened Tokyo’s key auto
sector with sanctions.
But Japanese experts question whether the country’s negotiators have done
enough to protect local farmers.
“Japan could have drawn more concessions from the US because it is
Americans who withdrew from the TPP” and wanted more access, argued Akio
Shibata, head of the Natural Resource Research Institute and former
researcher for trading house Marubeni.
“Even if the levels of tariff cuts are same as those of the TPP, it will
discourage Japanese farmers — who are already struggling to survive — from
continuing their businesses,” he said.
– ‘Chew on car parts’ –
Manufacturing, including the auto industry, is seen as the main driver of
Japan’s economic growth, accounting for roughly 20 percent of nominal GDP.
By contrast, the country’s agriculture sector accounts for just one
percent of GDP.
The deal announced Wednesday is only the first phase of the talks, with
Washington saying the second phase will include Japan’s auto sector.
Washington continues to wield the threat of imposing tariffs of up to 25
percent on Japan’s auto sector, which US officials view as a key tool to keep
negotiations moving.
Nobuhiro Suzuki, an expert on agricultural trade at the University of
Tokyo, said Japanese negotiators were offering agricultural concessions to
protect the auto sector.
The “mindset is if the US threatens them with punitive measures on the
auto sector, they offer (compromise in) agriculture,” he told AFP.
“The result will be a further reduction of agricultural production in this
country.”
Kawai agreed, saying: “I wonder what the government is thinking about food
safety and self-sufficiency rate.”
“The price of milk is already cheaper than (bottled) water. That’s
unfair,” he added.
“If the government think it’s okay to import 100 percent of the milk Japan
consumes, then that’s fine. When a food emergency occurs, they can enjoy
chewing on steel car parts.”
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