The Japanese government is likely to resume beef imports from the United States in June, Kyodo News reported on Friday, citing government sources.

The decision is likely as Japanese experts told their U.S. counterparts earlier Thursday that they are basically content with measures had been taken by the U.S. side to safeguard beef for Japan against mad cow disease, the sources were quoted as saying.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expressed his expectation on Thursday that the beef trade could resume when " appropriate conditions are met," according to local press reports.

Japan and the United States started working-level technical talks on Wednesday in Tokyo to discuss what further steps to be taken before Japan can lift its reimposed ban on American beef imports.

Japanese officials from the foreign, health and farm ministries are taking part in the talks, the first since late March, with their U.S. counterparts, led by Deputy Agriculture Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Products Chuck Lambert.

The United States gave a report on their recent recheck at 37 beef processing facilities certified for exports to Japan, and showed its compliance with bilateral agreement on safeguarding against the mad cow disease to the Japanese side.

Japan suspended all U.S. beef imports on Jan. 20, only a month after resuming the trade, as it detected in a U.S. beef shipment a bovine spine, which is banned in Japan for fear of the mad cow disease.

Source: Xinhua