Japanese mission may clear way for Brazilian beef exports

A Japanese delegation tasked with assessing Brazil’s animal health system for a possible opening of the Asian country’s market to Brazilian beef exports arrived over the weekend and will hold meetings through April 13.

Despite requests from the Brazilian government to broaden the area under review, the audit will focus on the three southern states, the first in the country to be certified as free of foot-and-mouth disease without vaccination.

The on-site audit is a decisive step in the long-running sanitary approval process required for beef shipments, one Brazil has been awaiting for decades. After the visit by the Japanese specialists, the remaining process for export authorization would be limited to paperwork. Even so, the private sector remains cautious, and a lengthy wait for market opening is still possible.

Japan imports about 700,000 tonnes of beef a year, roughly 60% of its domestic consumption, mainly from the United States and Australia, in a trade worth about $4 billion annually. Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and Uruguay also export beef to the country.

Brazil wants a share of that market because of the high prices Japanese buyers pay for beef, with average prices ranging from $4,500 to $6,800 per tonne, and also to diversify its export base, especially after China, its main customer, imposed quotas. Brazil’s meat exporters association, Abiec, declined to comment.

Brazil’s export basket to Japan is currently led by other animal proteins, notably chicken and pork, which accounted for 38.77% and 15.64% of shipments, respectively, according to Datamar data. The table below, based on DataLiner platform data, provides a more detailed breakdown of this key Asian market:

Brazilian Exports to Japan | Jan-Feb 2026 vs. Jan-Feb 2025 | TEUs

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

The delegation is made up of auditors from Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization. The audit results will be reviewed by a Japanese animal health committee before a decision is made, with no deadline set.

On-site inspections

Valor has learned that the inspection will seek to test the consistency and reliability of the technical dossier Brazil submitted in response to a Japanese questionnaire, as well as the effective implementation of sanitary legislation and procedures by all parties involved. Inspectors will also assess how effective Brazil’s surveillance and control measures for foot-and-mouth disease are at the national, regional and local levels. The goal is to verify the country’s ability to prevent, detect and control the disease.

The Japanese review of Brazil’s health system would apply to a possible market opening for the three southern states, despite Brazilian requests to include at least Rondônia and Acre, which had also already been recognized as zones free of foot-and-mouth disease without vaccination. The itinerary includes visits to cattle farms, meatpacking plants, a federal agricultural laboratory, surveillance structures at airports and state borders, and agricultural defense agencies.

Once this sanitary barrier is cleared, despite Brazil’s status and the presence of its beef in more than 160 countries, the country is expected to push for better commercial access terms in Japan. Exporters currently face tariffs of as much as 38.5%, seen as high by international standards. The United States, for example, imposes a 26.4% tariff, while China applies a 12% rate within the quota set at the start of the year.

The specialists who arrived last weekend are due to meet animal health authorities in Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná. As part of the risk assessment, they will examine Brazil’s legal framework and how it is applied, livestock production and distribution conditions, establishment-level controls, traceability and animal movement controls, quarantine, laboratory diagnostics, surveillance and the response to a potential foot-and-mouth outbreak.

There is a confidentiality agreement between the Brazilian and Japanese governments barring disclosure of information on schedules, sites to be visited, preparations for the on-site inspection and other related operational details, under penalty of cancellation of the mission.

A Japanese team of sanitary specialists was already in Brazil in 2025 for a preliminary assessment that was not yet official or final, following a route similar to the current one. Talks on opening the market gained momentum after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visited Japan in March last year, when Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba committed to sending the mission.

Shortly afterward, in June 2025, Brazil was recognized by the World Organisation for Animal Health as a country free of foot-and-mouth disease without vaccination, one of Japan’s requirements for buying beef from suppliers.

Food security

Last week, Yasushi Noguchi, Japan’s ambassador in Brasília, said in an interview with Brazilian news outlet Poder360 that the country is going through a period of economic expansion and is seeking greater resilience in its supply chain. He said that, in that context, partnerships with Brazil become strategic and cited the beef market opening process.

“We are taking steps to move into the next stage and hope this process will accelerate so that we can decide on opening the beef market,” he said in the interview with Poder360. Asked about other states that could eventually be assessed, he said that would depend on the outcome of the inspection in the South and that, afterward, Japanese officials could speak with Brazilian authorities to “see what the next step will be.”

Source: Valor International

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