Global Dairy eBrief Exclusives
Meet Hisao Fukuda: Cultivating U.S. Dairy Growth in Japan (Video)
by Margaret Speich
New business development director for USDEC’s Japan office has U.S. dairy experience and longstanding relationships with Japanese industry to advance Next 5% goals.
Hisao Fukuda’s efforts to facilitate U.S. dairy exports to Japan predate even the founding of USDEC. Few could claim the relationships he’s formed over his long and varied experience with U.S. dairy and his knowledge and expertise with the Japanese food industry and consumers.
So when USDEC embarked on “The Next 5%” effort and sought to strengthen its people, partnerships and promotions in key markets, it’s no wonder the organization’s eye fell on Fukuda for the position of business development director in Japan.
“Listening to you outline your extensive background, I understand why our team was so excited about you joining the USDEC team,” USDEC President and CEO Tom Vilsack told Fukuda during a Skype conversation the two had last month.
(Click arrow below to view an edited video of that interview.)
Deep roots with U.S. dairy
Fukuda’s career as a friend to U.S. dairy interests in Japan dates back to 1990 when he served as general manager of Uniflex Marketing, representing the National Dairy Board when it launched its first overseas program. He was instrumental in helping introduce U.S. cheese to the Japanese market and designing Japan’s import system for whey protein.
In 2001, he was recruited by the U.S. embassy to serve as senior agricultural specialist in the office of agricultural affairs in Tokyo, where he subsequently worked on numerous dairy-related issues, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, food safety and animal health.
In 2013, he joined the Japan Foodservice Association as chief operating officer and secretary general where he continued his relationship with U.S. dairy. He led a mission of senior Japan Foodservice Association executives to the United States, where USDEC hosted presentations on the U.S. dairy industry and a visit to a U.S. processor. He was instrumental in getting the group to submit public comments to the Japanese government in favor of preserving the rights to common food names. And he provided a platform in Japan to the U.S. dairy industry by inviting Secretary Vilsack to be keynote speaker at the group’s annual conference in Tokyo last year.
In 2001, he was recruited by the U.S. embassy to serve as senior agricultural specialist in the office of agricultural affairs in Tokyo, where he subsequently worked on numerous dairy-related issues, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, food safety and animal health.
In 2013, he joined the Japan Foodservice Association as chief operating officer and secretary general where he continued his relationship with U.S. dairy. He led a mission of senior Japan Foodservice Association executives to the United States, where USDEC hosted presentations on the U.S. dairy industry and a visit to a U.S. processor. He was instrumental in getting the group to submit public comments to the Japanese government in favor of preserving the rights to common food names. And he provided a platform in Japan to the U.S. dairy industry by inviting Secretary Vilsack to be keynote speaker at the group’s annual conference in Tokyo last year.
Relationship focus
One point Fukuda made clear in the interview with the Secretary was the critical role of relationships and partnerships in Japanese dairy trade.
“The success of the U.S. dairy industry, so far, is [because] U.S. cheese manufacturers and exporters and dairy ingredient manufacturers certainly understood the potential of the Japanese market, and they worked patiently with Japanese partners. That really paid off,” he said. “We are at a very different stage [than] the early 1990s. Compared to those days, we are a major force in the Japanese dairy industry, and that is all based upon this partnership built over 25 years now.”
One point Fukuda made clear in the interview with the Secretary was the critical role of relationships and partnerships in Japanese dairy trade.
“The success of the U.S. dairy industry, so far, is [because] U.S. cheese manufacturers and exporters and dairy ingredient manufacturers certainly understood the potential of the Japanese market, and they worked patiently with Japanese partners. That really paid off,” he said. “We are at a very different stage [than] the early 1990s. Compared to those days, we are a major force in the Japanese dairy industry, and that is all based upon this partnership built over 25 years now.”
Japan is a “dynamic market,” Fukuda said, contrary to some who perceive it as stagnant. Moving forward, U.S. suppliers have many potential growth opportunities, including:
- Cheese. Per capita cheese consumption will continue to rise in Japan.
- Whey protein. Whey protein demand will increase as its associations with fitness and healthy aging pervade consumer consciousness.
- Budding distribution channels. Fukuda sees potential in the nascent-but-promising Blue-Apron-style meal-delivery sector, ecommerce (where food sales so far account for only 2.5 percent of trade) and Japan’s burgeoning drug store channel (where food has grown to represent about one-quarter of sales).
Japan is a dairy deficit nation and that deficit will grow in the future, he added. U.S. suppliers are well-positioned to serve the demand.
Fukuda concluded: “The U.S. having been in this market for close to 30 years and having established such great relationships with Japanese partners, I think we have a much bigger market to create.”
Margaret Speich is senior vice president of strategic and industry communications at the U.S. Dairy Export Council.
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The U.S. Dairy Export Council fosters collaborative industry partnerships with processors, trading companies and others to enhance global demand for U.S. dairy products and ingredients. USDEC is primarily supported by Dairy Management Inc. through the dairy farmer checkoff. The password-protected article above is intended for USDEC member organizations only and should not be shared with anyone outside your organization.