Retail prices of imported beef fell in the week that ended Friday for the fourth straight week, but prices of domestically produced beef rose for the first time in four weeks.
The nationwide average retail price per 100 grams of imported chilled loin beef fell 9 yen, or 2.4 percent, from the previous week to 360 yen, while that of domestically produced beef rose 3 yen, or 0.4 percent, to 680 yen, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said Monday.
"We will watch movements of beef prices carefully during the holiday season (beginning later this week), when demand for beef is expected to grow," an official at the ministry's Food Safety and Consumer Affairs Bureau said.
The ministry has been monitoring beef prices because they rose sharply in the wake of Japan's ban on imports of U.S. beef in late December following the discovery of the first, and only, case of mad cow disease in the United States.
The prices of pork loin, chicken and eggs moved little in the reporting week, the ministry said.