Geographically, japan is an island of nations located in East Asia with the capital in Tokyo. The country has the tenth largest population in the world standing at 126 million people. The country demonstrates high levels of technological advancement with Tokyo receiving credit for being an industrial city. Japan is home to Toyota and Nissan; the world is leading manufacturers of personal vehicles.

Politics environment

The country is a monarchy by default, with the emperor, a ceremonial figure, regarded as the head of state. The prime minister holds chief powers in the country and assisted in administration by elected members of the diet. Politics plays a crucial environment on beef exports to japan. Most of the company’s dealing with importing beef products is politically affiliated. In 2014, both governments entered into a bilateral business agreement in which japan agreed to reduce the tariffs on Australian beef imports to allow more movement of beef imports from Australia to japan. The agreement meant to provide preferential access of Australian beef imports into the country owing to the complimentary business relationship between the two countries.

Legal environment

Following the outbreak of the bovine Spongiform encephalopathy disease that affects livestock, Japan banned the importation of beef products from Canada, USA, France, Ireland and Netherlands. Fortunately, enough the ban was in favour of Australia. The animal quarantine services of japan did not classify Australian beef exports as carriers of the virus. The animal quarantine services body has set up shops in Australia for the purpose of issuance of an inspection certificate to ease the whole importation process.

Social environment

The japan government tries to ensure that the country is self-sustaining in the production of foodstuffs; however, most of the modern japan nourishment is imported. The high volume of imports of foodstuffs to the country is mostly due to the growing demand of agricultural land for domestic and commercial purposes. The government was reluctant to open its market previously to meat products from abroad but pressured from consumers on the part of japan and producers from Australia, the united states and Canada opened the barriers making beef products from these countries readily available. The beef imports have to be modified to suit japan diets, which are highly regarded by the Japanese people. The influx of the beef importation into japan has helped to provide greater vertical segmentation of the beef market in japan, especially for beef exports from Australia, whereby both cheaper cuts and beef products are available to consumers with different incomes and tastes.

Technological environment

Shipment of beef products from Australia to japan is usually in frozen or chilled form, a move meant to preserve quality and freshness of the product. Transportation in chilled from is more expensive than in frozen state. Chilled beef products require specially designed haulers to enable the products maintain the temperatures while, on the other hand, frozen beef don’t require much so long as the beef remains at temperatures ten to twenty degrees below freezing point. The beef products in from Australia have praise for having a longer shell life of up to 90 days upon shipment compared to other nations

Environment

Australia

The Australian economy in particular reflects a combination of cooperative monetary policies with relatively manageable financial environments since 2012. The region also expects to reap from inter-global demand externalities, reflecting a growing demand for Asia pacific products. Consistent with this gradual growth coupled with the absence of economic shocks, inflation will stabilize from 2012 onwards. Coupled with the vast endowments of natural resources the country prides itself in having a vibrant service industry. In addition, the country is the dominant exporter of natural resources, foodstuffs, and energy. The government has instituted fundamental business principles to boost investments. Some of the policies range from integration of free and open trade together with the culmination of the Doha round. (whose objective geared towards achieving reforms of the international trading mechanism by introducing reductions in trade barriers and revision of existing trade rules), for the introduction of multilateral trade dealings and the inclusion of agriculture and services.

The Australian meat and livestock of Australia records show that beef imports to japan during September of 2014 fell at a rate of 17% annually, a move expiated by Japanese exporters who chose to avoid triggering of the tariff inclining safeguard systems. Consequently, the beef imports tariff to the country remained at 38.5% for the final quarter of the japans fiscal year of 2013. At the same time, prices at wall street stayed firm than predicted, despite the prevailing conditions favoring the importation of beef from cattle 3-4 four years or younger since February. The statistics reveal that net import value of Americas frozen plate and brisket declined to 366 yen/kg representing an ease of 11%. On the other hand, beef imports into the country were at 401,116 tonnes gaining 3% from the previous year. The US and Australia took the lion share of the market at 35% and 53% respectively. (Trading Economics, 2014).

Environment

Australia is a major beef producer in the world due to its comparative advantage over the other beef producing countries in the form of forage resources and little opportunity costs. at the same time, it has a small domestic market that consumes little beef domestically, but rely heavily on exporting beef production.

Market environment

Following the ban on Asian imports from the united USA, this helped boost and redirected exports to the japan segment of the beef market. The Australian industry responded positively to this transition by boosting production and producing more beef products at high quality. Peak beef prices reached in 2005-2006 periods after the end of the global credit crisis and recession

Consumer and social environment

The taste and preference of consumers vary greatly. The food market experienced subtle shifts that had important effects for the beef industry. Consumer confidence is high in the Australian case given the return to economic growth, and people increased expenditure on segments negatively affected by the previous economic recession. Beef restaurants and retail outlets reported an influx of customers buying more beef cuts than ever before. The population exhibited a conscious for healthy beef products.

Political imperatives

The Australian system was once a heavily protectionist society, but with the culmination of the global crisis. The government opened up the borders to more exports and imports. The country is highly ranked in term of trade openness and scores highly in this sector. Following the signing of the Doha round, the government agreed to increase the volume of exports to other countries. The Australia-Japan trade agreement signed in 2014 agreed to let japan export more vehicles t Australia at decreased tariffs in exchange for Japan decreasing it import duty on Australian beef exports from 38.4% to a lower figure.s