Japan Expected to Remain Top Buyer of U.S. Farm Goods

Japan will continue to be the No. 1 customer of American farmers through the turn of the century, Agriculture Department trade analysts say.

In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, Japan once again topped foreign buyers of U.S. agricultural products. Its estimated $8.3 billion in purchases compared to the European Community’s $7 billion.

Emiko Miyasaka of the department’s Foreign Agricultural Service said she expects Japan to maintain its lead over the 12-nation EC “at least in the 1990s.”

Miyasaka said Japan’s top ranking appears solid through the turn of the century, despite the EC’s plan to unify economically by the end of 1992.

Beyond the 1990s, the situation is too uncertain for predictions, she said.

Miyasaka agency’s predicted in the last two weeks that Japan also “is likely to be among the strongest export growth markets” for U.S. farmers.

“This optimism is based on the expectation that Japan’s economic growth, while slowing, is expected to be the strongest of all industrialized countries, fueling consumer demand,” the report said.

Further, it said, there has been some liberalization of Japan’s agricultural imports in the current Uruguay Round of negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT.

“Since 1964, when it emerged as Asia’s first billion-dollar market for U.S. farm products, Japan has steadily expanded its agricultural imports,” the report said.

Japan moved in front of the EC as the top U.S. farm market in 1988.

Bulk commodities such as corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, tobacco and logs are the big-ticket items.

But Miyasaka and other analysts believe that there are solid opportunities for such high-value products as beef, vegetables, citrus fruit, fruit juices and processed wood products.

The U.S.-Japan Beef Agreement, aimed at increasing American meat to Japan, was signed in 1988. As a result, sales of beef have grown from $556 million in 1987 to $1 billion last year.

U.S. exports of fresh, frozen and prepared vegetables reached $253 million in 1989, the report said. Sales of french fries alone rose to $79 million from $37 million in 1983.

Although Japan has opened its markets to more U.S. farm products, rice remains a divisive issue between the two countries.

Japan bars imports, part of a national policy to protect domestic growers. In the GATT negotiations, the United States has called on Japan to ease the restrictions.

Miyasaka noted that the U.S. position on Japanese rice is part of an overall bid under GATT to reduce trade restrictions all over the world.