After the negotiations led by the President of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle, to diversify the export of Uruguayan meat to Japan, the first shipment of 300 kilos of bovine tongue to that Asian country left on Saturday, November 19.

Daniel De Mattos, advisor to the Board of BPU Meat, a company of the NH Food Group, of Japanese capital, revealed that the first shipment of his company is for 300 kilos that are shipped by plane.

Currently, Uruguay produces some 3,200 tons of tongue, of which 70% are exported and the rest remains in the domestic market.

The Minister of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries, Fernando Mattos, noted that this first delivery of bovine tongue to Japan could be a precursor to more exports of Uruguayan meat to this country.

The opening of the Japanese market for Uruguayan meat materialised after twenty-two years of closure as a result of the outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease detected in Uruguay at the beginning of this century.