UPDATED – A Canadian company will be shipping a load of beef to China as early as next week, Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald told media on Tuesday. This marks the first time that country has let in Canadian beef in about five years.
Macdonald said the news that China would lift its ban on Canadian beef came abruptly.
“When the door opened, it opened,” he said.
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Macdonald announced on social media on Monday that China had lifted its ban on Canadian beef, which had been in place since December 2021.
This followed the Jan. 16 news that China and Canada had reached an agreement to lower tariffs on Canadian products like canola seed and meal. A federal explainer at the time said Canada also expected China to “accelerate the resumption” of imports of Canadian beef.
MacDonald addresses pork tariffs
MacDonald also said Chinese tariffs on Canadian pork were on the agenda in Beijing despite no movement on the levies.
“Those discussion are going to have to be further approached,” he said.
“One of the issues we face with pork in China is that they produce over 90 per cent themselves,” the minister added. “There still is a market there for us, and we’ll continue to pursue that.”
Trade to return to 2021 levels: AAFC
Canadian Cattle Association president Tyler Fulton said the re-opening comes after years of advocacy.
Fulton said the CCA learned that beef trade would resume with China when Prime Minister Carney and MacDonald were in China.
As of Tuesday morning Fulton had no details about the deal — including what kind of beef will be allowed into the Chinese market, and what volume of beef will be allowed in.
An Agriculture Agri-Food Canada official told Glacier FarmMedia on Tuesday afternoon that beef trade will return to 2021 levels. Mainland China was Canada’s fourth-largest customer for beef in 2021, importing a bit more than 20,000 tons according to Canada Beef statistics.
Canadian beef has not been exported to China since December 2021 when China shut its borders due to an atypical case of BSE in Alberta. Prior to the halt in trade, Canadian beef was seeing “continued growth” in the Chinese market, the CCA said in a news release.
Next steps for CCA
“Just to remind everyone that the issue relates to an atypical case of BSE that was found in 2021. It’s a naturally occurring variant that we found. All the other markets that we shipped to stayed open,” said Fulton, who runs a cow-calf operation near Birtle, Man.
Fulton said the Canadian Cattle Association will need to learn about new safeguards, since they haven’t shipped beef to China since 2021.
“We’re optimistic that there will be space for us, and that we can pursue material access that will make a difference for beef producers,” he said.
“We think there’s some unallocated quota that would be available in China that isn’t currently connected to a specific country, and so we’ll pursue that initially. One of the critical aspects here is that some of the cuts coming off a beef carcass can see significant premium in that market,” said Fulton.
Hopes for added value
“Our hope really is to add extra value to the carcasses here in Canada, by greater access to the big market of China,” he said.
The cattle market benefits when more of the carcass is used, since there are many cuts that aren’t in high demand in North America.
“We can add significant value to the carcass when we have access to some of these markets that desire the niche type products,” he said.
The CCA are pleased with the new trade agreements between Canada and China.
“We’re supportive. We know the bread and butter of the beef industry in Canada is really based on market access. We acknowledge and rely on our biggest trading partner, the U.S. And so, we remain focussed on the Canada-United States-Mexico agreement (CUSMA) and ensuring that we can maintain tariff free access,” said Fulton.
-With files from Jonah Grignon
