Japanese Wagyu producers hope to beef up exports as locals shy away from red meat
Japanese producers of one of the nation's most premium "Wagyu" meat are looking to beef up exports to regions including Southeast Asia and the Middle East, as insiders notice a health shift by domestic consumers away from red meat.
An association of beef producers, wholesalers, and the city government of Matsusaka in Mie Prefecture, central Japan, are planning to raise the quota of cattle exports from 24 in 2022 to 700 in 2024.
Matsusaka cattle have been exported to Hong Kong since 2016, although just six were sent to the city in the last nine months of last year. Similarly limited numbers have been exported to Singapore, the United States, Thailand and Vietnam.
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The Nikkei newspaper said the beef is expected to prove popular with wealthy consumers in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the US, with Kobe and Omi beef already attracting a firm following among connoisseurs.
The first promotional event to spearhead the campaign was held in Dubai on Wednesday, with "yakiniku" grilled meat and "shabu-shabu" hotpot dishes served to members of the royal family, local government officials, media and social influencers. To meet local requirements, the cow was slaughtered at a halal-certified slaughterhouse.
Matsusaka beef comes from Japanese Black cattle, one of six indigenous cattle breeds, and is reared under strict conditions in a limited geographical area in Mie Prefecture, where calves must be registered as purebred through the Matsusaka Beef Management System. The cows take about three years to mature, with only virgin female cows sold for beef. Just 8,000 cattle are processed for consumption every year.
The meat is prized for its high fat content, extensive marbling, rich flavour and tenderness, said an official of the Matsusaka government office overseeing the local industry.
Marc Matsumoto, host of the NHK cooking show "Bento Expo", said Japan's history of raising top-quality beef started in the 19th century, although a distinction had to be made between the beef typically found in supermarkets and Matsusaka beef.
"Historically, the Japanese did not eat beef and used cattle as draft animals in their fields," said Matsumoto, also the author of a number of books on Japanese cuisine. "After the country opened up to the rest of the world in the late 1800s, Japanese began to eat meat and draft cattle were replaced by tractors.
"The breeders realised they needed new business models so they turned to producing beef to eat," he added. "Those working cattle were not really suitable for consumption as they were large, muscly and sinewy, so the breeders found ways to make them palatable, including by increasing the fat content in the meat through a special feeding regime and crossbreeding."
When Japan's economy began to boom in the 1970s, many people wanted to spend their money on luxury products, Matsumoto said, so breeders had to make their beef as tasty and tender as possible.
The high fat content made the beef perfect for a number of Japanese traditional dishes, such as thin slices of grilled beef or cooked in a broth, with much of the fat disappearing during the cooking process. Matsusaka beef is far less suitable as a steak, Matsumoto said, which may cause some problems in foreign markets.
"There is so much fat in the meat that it really should not be eaten as a steak," he said. "Anyone who puts one of these on a barbecue, for example, is likely to be disappointed in the outcome and that is why the exporters need to teach people how to best prepare it."
Matsumoto said he expected most of the exported beef would go to high-end restaurants where knowledgeable Japanese chefs will prepare dishes.
"As a strategy for the breeders, this makes a lot of sense," he said. "The recent trend here in Japan has been away from red meat and meat that is high in fat due to health reasons, which is likely to be affecting domestic sales. Plus Japan has an ageing and contracting population so the breeders are being smart about finding new markets."
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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