Animal welfare and environmental production are less important to Japanese shoppers than for Europeans, according to QMS chair Kate Rowell. The Borders farmer has recently been on a trade mission to Japan looking at opportunities for Scotch meat.

She explained it was a different market, with consumers giving less importance to animal welfare, traceability and environmental standards, and more to freshness and buying new products.

“Lamb is seen very differently to the UK, here young Japanese women are the target for the lamb market,” said Rowell.

“We visited Tokyo where many homes don’t even have an oven and few people entertain at home. Consumers are always seeking out the next trend.”

The trip highlighted that Japanese consumers believe that their heavily marbled Wagyu beef is the best, followed by grain-fed beef.

Grass-reared beef is seen as the poorest-quality meat. Rowell put this down to the US successfully marketing its beef in Japan for the last 20 years.

The trade mission concluded that there was a high-value market for exports, but the quality of the product needs to be exceptionally high.

Further collaboration with other beef exporters or Scottish brands might help create a presence on the Japanese market.