Tokyo lifts ban

Press, 26 February 1981, Page 1

Tokyo lifts ban

From

BRUCE ROSCOE

in Tokyo "Japan’s stand on refusing to accept New Zealand’s beef tenders for next month has been reversed. The decision came when officials of the Japanese Ministry of' Agriculture yesterday. met the beef importing division of the Livestock Industry Promotion Corporation to work out a compromise on New Zealand beef tenders. Mr Takayoshi Horikoshi, deputy director of the Ministry’s Meat and Egg Division, said the meeting agreed that New Zealand beef tenders would be accepted, although . they would face cancellation if the final Pirbright test results confirmed the presence of foot-and-mouth disease. The sudden change in policy was not influenced by the decision of other meat-importing countries to lift their restrictions on New Zealand meat. “We met on the issue and agreed that since the final Pirbright results were so close at hand, possibly February 27 or 28, we would tentatively accept New Zealand’s beef tenders,” Mr Ho'ikoshi said. New Zealand exporters are expected to bid for more than 240 tonnes of beef in the Japanese tender, which would fetch about $U5630,000.