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 Costco Japan Canada Fair Canada Beef International Institute (CBII) Japan participated in Costco Japan’s Canada Fair along with other premium Canadian food and beverage products. A wide range of Canadian products including Canadian beef was featured at 30 Costco Japan warehouses from February 7 to 13, 2022. Costco Japan began purchasing Canadian beef last year for their best-selling beef offering, the Yakiniku beef pack found in the deli section of Costco. It’s the first time Canadian beef was promoted at the Costco Japan Canada Fair.  CBII supported in-store sampling to raise awareness and increase the sale of the Yakiniku packs. The demonstrations took place at 19 Costco locations during the Canada Fair. CBII provided the artwork and production for the AAA labels which were applied to product packaging as well as point-of-sale materials to support Canadian beef sales during the promotion.  An estimated 1.8 million 2-kilogram Yakiniku beef packs are sold annually. A popular lifestyle magazine, Mart, with 140,000 print copies distributed monthly, featured the Yakiniku packs.Costco Japan is the largest and fastest-growing grocery retailer in this market. Costco opened its first Japan location in 1999 and has since grown to 30 stores—the most Costco store locations outside North America. Japan COVID-19 Update Japan's daily count of new COVID-19 cases neared 80,000 in mid-February as the highly transmissible Omicron variant continues its rapid spread across Japan. The Japanese government has expanded measures to curb the spread and prevent the medical system from being overwhelmed. The measures are scheduled to be in place through early March. Grocery sales in December were about the same as the previous year and up 4.3% compared to the same period in 2019 (pre-COVID19). Sales of meat and poultry products were down 2.6% year-over-year (YOY) but up 6.1% compared to the same period in 2019. Imported meat sales have been sluggish due to a continuous hike in price; sales of Wagyu beef have been recovering. In early January, imported and domestic retail beef prices were up 7% and 2% respectively compared to the yearly average. Japan’s total beef import volumes in December were 53,639 tonnes or 6% lower YOY, while imports from Canada were 4,042 tonnes or down 4%, resulting in the first decline in the last 11 months. Beef imports from the U.S. were 21,327 tonnes, 14% lower from a year earlier, and imports from Australia were 20,835 tonnes, down 13%. South Korea COVID-19 Update New daily COVID-19 cases have risen sharply recently, reaching an all-time high of 54,122 on February 9 driven by the Omicron variant. The government continues to impose strict social distancing restrictions. Private gatherings are limited to six people and 9 p.m. curfews are enforced at restaurants. A vaccine passport system has also been implemented for restaurants. Restaurants, especially those with meat-heavy offerings, continue to suffer due to various restrictions, declining sales and the rising cost of beef and other food ingredients. Prices of imported beef surged by 24.1% in January YOY. Retailers do not have any restrictions and continue to enjoy strong demand for beef for home cooking. According to a recent survey, Korean consumers have increased beef purchases from online channels by 49% YOY. Korea’s total beef imports in January was 39,218 tonnes, up 13.2% YOY, and imports from Canada were 2,553 tonnes, up 76.4% YOY. Canadian blade/clod and ribs were the leading exporting cuts, representing 45% and 32% of the total volume, respectively. Back to main page  Japan Team Yuko Onizawa, Ichiro Kiyotomi, Takako Toyama |
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