If the United States carries through with plans to implement mandatory country-of-origin labelling next year, the impact on Canada-U.S. trade will be as profound as this year’s disruption caused by BSE, says agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief.
“Particularly in the short term, it could dramatically change the cut and thrust and flow of livestock into the United States,” he said in an interview on Parliament Hill Oct. 31.
Vanclief said it would mean fewer feeder and slaughter cattle being shipped south and more slaughter and processing being done in Canada, at a huge cost to the American industry.
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“We would be exporting further-processed product into the United States,” he said. “They (the Americans) have said in the first year alone, it could cost their industry $4 billion.”
The previous day, he had issued the same warning in a speech prepared for delivery to the American Meat Institute at a Chicago meeting.
“Country of origin is a totally different issue from BSE but the kind of trade disruptions we’re seeing to Canadian live animal and meat shipments under BSE would be similar under country-of-origin requirements,” he said.
Since one case of bovine spongiform enceph-alopathy was announced in an Alberta herd May 20, the U.S. border has been closed to live shipments and only recently has boneless beef from young animals been allowed into the U.S. market.
Vanclief told the AMI, which also opposes mandatory source labels on meat, that it would mean much less Canadian product and fewer Canadian live cattle in the American market, causing regular supply shortages in states such as Washington and Colorado.
“On the primary production side, small to medium-sized independent beef and pork producers in the United States who depend on Canadian feeder cattle and pigs to stay competitive would see their supplies dry up,” the minister said, according to the text prepared for the meeting. “And what will happen when more countries in the European Union cotton onto a creative notion of country of origin? We can only shudder at the thought.”
Vanclief also used his meeting with American packers to try to assure them that opening the border to Canadian cattle under 30 months of age will not cause major trauma for the U.S. cattle industry.
He said American cattle prices are strong and will remain so, largely because the U.S. herd is smaller than it has been for more than 10 years. Not enough Canadian cattle are imported to make a significant difference.
“The resumption of trade in boxed beef has not affected prices significantly,” said the minister. “And there isn’t a backlog of young cattle in Canada waiting for the green light south.”
Although Vanclief acknowledged American anger over restrictions on feeder cattle flowing north, he did not promise any quick resolution of the dispute to give U.S. feeder cattle year-round access.
