Japan opened up to ractopamine pork 15 years ago: US and Canadian pork flooded in, and imported pork consumption overtook domestic pork

Ractopamine pork will come to Taiwan next year. The Council of Agriculture is using a 10-billion fund to protect the domestic pig farming industry, repeatedly stressing that the supporting measures for ractopamine pork imports follow Japan's example, and saying that after Japan opened up to US ractopamine pork imports starting in 2004, US pork imports did not rise but instead fell. In fact, checking Japan Customs data, last year's US pork imports were indeed slightly lower than in 2004, but overall pork imports have been climbing year after year.

Japan's total population has declined for 14 consecutive years, but per capita pork consumption has been rising every year, while the number of pigs raised domestically has stayed flat, so Japan's pork imports have grown year after year, increasing 11% over 15 years, and have now surpassed domestic pork production, with the self-sufficiency rate falling to 48%.

Judging from Japan's data, US pork is still first in import volume, and in the years after ractopamine pork was opened up, US pork imports