Denmark and Japan (Trade of meats)
On 13 December, one of the busiest days for Christmas orders, the members of the Embassy of Japan were received by the Danish Crown leadership at its flagship plant. Danish Crown is the largest Danish meat manufacturer and the plant is located in Horsens in Jutland, 260km west of Copenhagen. Ambassador MIYAGAWA Manabu and Mr. Jais Valeur, CEO, Danish Crown exchanged their views on the present meats trade and its perspective between Denmark and Japan, which was followed by the site visit to the processing line of pork at the factory.
Back in 1980 to 83, H.E. Ms. TAKAHASHI Nobuko, Ambassador of Japan to Denmark wrote a memoir after the completion of her mission, recalling a day when an agreement on pork trade was made as follows;
“I phoned to Prime Minister of Denmark. Before I began to speak, Prime Minister said joyfully a happy day.”
For many years, Denmark has been one of the five largest exporting countries of pork to Japan, providing about 100,000 tons of tasty pork every year. Danish Crown employs about 26,000 persons and its export share in the whole Danish food export is about 20% and that in the Danish food export to Japan is about 70%. Danish Crown’s relation with Japan started with its export of the canned pork luncheon meat, “Tulip” to Okinawa more than 60 years ago, and then continued to expand both in terms of quality and quantity, covering Shabu-Shabu meat (super-thinly sliced meat for Japanese dish), sausages, pizza toppings, bacon and so on.
The discussion between the Embassy and Danish Crown was significant, touching upon the relations of trust for many years with the Japanese consumers, the efforts to keep improving tailor-made quality as well as for addressing climate change, step-by-step use of the Japan EU Economic Partnership Agreement among others. The members of the Embassy were much enlightened through the tour of the factory, witnessing the excellent combination of the latest high technology and the traditional craftsmanship of the trained employees. Tusind tak, Mr. Jais Valeur, Mr. Frederik Greibe, Mr. Jesper Frandsen and the colleagues of Danish Crown.
Ambassador MIYAGAWA Manabu and Mr. Jais Valeur, Group CEO, Danish Crown
The samples of the canned “Tulip” pork luncheon (photo taken by Ambassador MIYAGAWA in February in 2020 at Food Innovation House in Vejle)
Shabu-shabu (Japanese dish with thinly sliced meats)
During the tour of the plant with Mr. Jesper Frandsen, Plant Director
From left: 4 members of the Embassy, Mr. Jais Valeur, Group CEO, Mr. Jesper Frandsen, Plant Director and Mr. Frederik Vilhelm Greibe, Group Director for Public Affairs