Cambodia is top of the table for importing the luxury Japanese "wagyu" beef which sells for hundreds of dollars a kilogram. But where can it be going ?
Is it possible that Chinese companies in Cambodia are buying luxury Japanese beef and re-exporting it to China in order to bypass the mainland China ban on importation of Japanese beef which was introduced in 2001 ?

February 18, 2018 4:30 pm JST
Is Cambodia a 'Japanese beef-laundering' hub?
Smugglers bypass Chinese import ban to satisfy hunger for prized meat

PHNOM PENH -- Cambodia's imports of beef from Japan, widely known as "wagyu," have shot up, yet you will struggle to find it on a menu in even the most exclusive restaurants in Phnom Penh.
Many now believe the country has become a staging post on a "beef laundering" route set up to satisfy the palates of affluent Chinese.

"Japanese beef? No way!" said Heang Channy, a butcher at a traditional market in the Cambodian capital. "That can't be true," she laughed on hearing that her country is now the world's largest importer of frozen Japanese beef.

Japanese Finance Ministry statistics show that exports of frozen beef to Cambodia in 2017 surged 50% on the year to 544 tons, making the Southeast Asian country the top importer for seven straight years. But there is little sign of growing, or indeed any, wagyu consumption.

Neither a supermarket run by Japanese retail giant Aeon nor local chains Lucky Supermarket and Thai Huot Market sell Japanese beef.

A handful of high-end Japanese restaurants and Western steakhouses serve it, but at $40-50 for a 100 gram portion, nearly 40 times the price of local beef, it is hard to see the delicacy being a staple in most Cambodian households.

According to Ly Lavil, chairman of the Cambodia Livestock Raisers Association, average annual beef consumption per person is 3kg, and he was surprised to learn about the volume being imported from Japan.

So where does it all go after passing through Cambodian customs?

Some 7.35 million Chinese visited Japan in 2017, up 15% year-on-year, and like all tourists, they like to indulge in a bit of local fare while on vacation. Marbled wagyu has become highly sought after all over the world, a phenomenon fueled by stories of cattle being fed beer and massaged to produce tender cuts.

But in China, where top-quality meat can fetch several hundred dollars per kilogram, importing Japanese beef has been banned since 2001, after an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Econom ... dering-hub

Clearly hidden behind some beef curtains.

Wagu is available in many restaurants in Phnom Penh. LSH supply it, or at least used to. It is available at Vans, Stone Grill https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserRev ... _Penh.html and Dara have it on their menu. http://dara-restaurant.com/menu/ Khmer diners are starting to spend quite a bit in decent restaurants around Phnom Penh. There are requests for Brittany oysters rather than the Vietnamese imports and also for the more expensive wines for example, and so I would not be surprised that Wagu is becoming popular.

Kuroneko wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2018 10:03 am Wagu is available in many restaurants in Phnom Penh. LSH supply it, or at least used to. It is available at Vans, Stone Grill https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserRev ... _Penh.html and Dara have it on their menu. http://dara-restaurant.com/menu/ Khmer diners are starting to spend quite a bit in decent restaurants around Phnom Penh. There are requests for Brittany oysters rather than the Vietnamese imports and also for the more expensive wines for example, and so I would not be surprised that Wagu is becoming popular.

More popular than Hong Kong and Macao combined?
According to the chart, Cambodia imported about 500 tons (1/2 million kg) of it.
If we assume a finger-in-the-air price of $100/kg (it's probably more), that's $50 million.
It seems highly unlikely it's all for local consumption.
In fact I suspect most of it never arrived in Cambodia at all.

finbar wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2018 10:59 am

Kuroneko wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2018 10:03 am Wagu is available in many restaurants in Phnom Penh. LSH supply it, or at least used to. It is available at Vans, Stone Grill https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserRev ... _Penh.html and Dara have it on their menu. http://dara-restaurant.com/menu/ Khmer diners are starting to spend quite a bit in decent restaurants around Phnom Penh. There are requests for Brittany oysters rather than the Vietnamese imports and also for the more expensive wines for example, and so I would not be surprised that Wagu is becoming popular.

More popular than Hong Kong and Macao combined?
According to the chart, Cambodia imported about 500 tons (1/2 million kg) of it.
If we assume a finger-in-the-air price of $100/kg (it's probably more), that's $50 million.
It seems highly unlikely it's all for local consumption.
In fact I suspect most of it never arrived in Cambodia at all.

I was really questioning their underplaying its availability Phnom Penh. I agree the figures for imports do look questionable, especially when the MLA site puts the the total Japanese export as 890 SWT (shipping weight tonnes) and Cambodian import as 80 SWT, but that was 2015.

Japanese Wagyu beef exports increase 08 October 2015
Top destinations (by volume) include Hong Kong (305 tonnes swt, up 43% year-on-year), the US (111 tonnes swt, up 28%), Singapore (97 tonnes swt, up 34%), Cambodia (80 tonnes swt, down 56%) and Thailand (59 tonnes swt, up 60%). Small quantities have also been sent to the UK, Netherlands and Germany, responding to niche but growing demand.https://www.mla.com.au/prices-markets/m ... -increase/

Vietnam is a honey laundry.
contaminated Chinese honey is diluted with local product and claimed as local source.

frank lee bent wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:30 pm Vietnam is a honey laundry.
contaminated Chinese honey is diluted with local product and claimed as local source.

Don't the Yanks ban it? I watched a program on this a couple of weeks ago, blend it up with fructose and shit.

So what, the Americans did the same with Cuban cigars by using the UK.

What is Chinese contaminated honey?

Honey has been diluted with sugar and water for many thousands of years, until weights and measures and seals came in. Even then they still need to check it.

Sounds like sour grapes.

Don't the Yanks ban it? I watched a program on this a couple of weeks ago, blend it up with fructose and shit.

yes the EU too.
the fake honey is banned in any quantity or concentration- the larger concern is real honey that is contaminated with agricultural chemicals. this is what is used to blend with uncontaminated honey so those chemicals fall within acceptable ( trace ) quantities.

Honey has been diluted with sugar and water for many thousands of years, until weights and measures and seals came in. Even then they still need to check it.

yes, in some countries they even compare pollen profiles to see if they match plants found in the stated production zone before allowing import