Exports suffer under new price policy

Danish cheese exports to Japan, one of the most lucrative markets in the world for European cheeses, suffered a substantial blow last year with shipments down nearly 6% on the year to 2,400 tonnes.
The reason behind the slump, says the Danish Dairy Board, was the exporter’s determination to keep its prices level with the previous year. Denmark’s refusal to match other trader’s prices in Japan meant that main competitors New Zealand and Australia managed to encroach on part of the Danish market share. This gave the two countries a total export shipment to Japan of 129,000 tonnes last year. Despite the strength of its currency, Germany also managed to get price policies right for the attractive Nippon market, and boosted its cheese sales there by nearly 9% to 7,800 tonnes.
The good news for Scandinavia is that the Japanese have swung back to Danish cheeses with a vengeance in 2000. The first six months of the year have seen cheese exports from Denmark up by 16% on the same period in 1999. The most popular products are slicing cheeses Maribo and Samsoe and a specially-packaged slicing product marketed under the appropriate label Nippon.