Last week, Iowa Deputy Agriculture Secretary Grant Menke led a trade mission with the Iowa Economic Development Council to Japan and Taiwan. Today, we will focus on the Japan portion of the trip.
Japan has long been a strong trading partner with Iowa, and their relationship goes back many years. Menke talks about that long history.
Japan ranks as one of the top ten trading partners in many agriculture-related products. When doing effective trade with Japan, they value the face-to-face style of conducting business. That lends itself to seeing more of our products on the shelves in Japan.
When looking at how pork and beef exports are sold in Japan, it is two completely different types of marketing. We also see a larger consumption of the “variety cuts” of our animal products.
Menke also identified some areas for growth in our trade with Japan, primarily when it comes to ethanol.
We will investigate the Taiwan part of the trip coming up on Friday.
