U.S. beef marketing in Taiwan drives demand as health scares fade

U.S. beef marketing in Taiwan drives demand as health scares fade    A trade advocate for U.S. meat exporters said Thursday that demand for U.S. beef in Taiwan is growing steadily, a year after the Taiwanese government reopened its market to the product.
   Efforts by the U.S. Meat Export Federation have eased customer fears of consuming U.S. beef, increasing demand in restaurants and supermarkets for U.S. beef products, USMEF said in a statement.
   According to USMEF-Taiwan, there could be up to 2,000 outlets serving Asian-style U.S. beef cuts in yakiniku, teppanyaki, sukiyaki and hot pot meals. U.S. beef boneless short ribs are a good profit maker for foodservice operators.
   'There are no close substitutes or competitors to U.S. boneless short ribs since most grain-fed boneless and bone-in short ribs from Australia are being sold to Korea and Japan, and grass fed short ribs are too tough for dry cooking,' said USMEF Taiwan Director Davis Wu. 'Many chain supermarkets and wholesale stores featured U.S. beef as main promotion product for the Chinese New Year. This willingness to promote U.S. beef shows that consumers are no longer worried about U.S. beef safety.'
   USMEF cooperated with Sinon Supermarket, the largest supermarket chain in central Taiwan with 32 stores, to conduct a U.S. beef promotion activity in conjunction with the Chinese New Year. Sales volume of U.S. beef increased 20 percent and the cuts included in the promotion were expanded from five to eight to meet consumer demand.
   Wu also said that in 2006 chilled U.S. beef had 48 percent of retail market share in Taiwan, indicating optimism for future progress of U.S. beef in the retail sector. Taiwan was the fourth-largest market for U.S. beef and beef variety meat in 2006. The United States exported 21,409 metric tons valued at $101.3 million.