TOKYO -- With Taiwan and Australia starting to import Japanese beef again, the country's exports of the meat have grown at a record pace, with the momentum expected to remain for the rest of this year.
Taiwan in September lifted a ban on imports of unprocessed Japanese beef and Australia lifted restrictions in May. This has provided a boost not just to shipments of the product, but also the Japanese government's drive to raise farm exports overall to 1 trillion yen ($8.96 billion). Both countries had suspended imports amid the bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, scare in 2001.
