EDMONTON – Trade talks are more of a marathon than a sprint, says the chair of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association.
However, Travis Toews said the results for the cattle industry are worth the time, money and effort.
“They are critically important,” he told Alberta Beef Producer delegates during their semi-annual meeting.
Toews said it’s hard to put a dollar value on the lost income from closed borders to Canadian cattle since BSE, but the numbers can add up quickly.
Read Also
Canola oil transloading facility opens
DP World just opened its new canola oil transload facility at the Port of Vancouver. It can ship one million tonnes of the commodity per year.
It’s estimated that the fight with the United States over mandatory country-of-origin labelling has already cost Canadian cattle producers $20 to $30 a head. Multiply that by four million head a year and the losses to the industry are staggering.
The South Korean ban on Canadian cattle has cost the industry $20 per head, or $80 to $100 million, just from not being able to sell short ribs to the country.
Add in trade disputes with the European Union and Japan and the value of the losses are large.
“Overall market access is a huge opportunity,” said Toews.
More than half the CCA’s $3 million budget is spent on trade matters.
The long, slow discussions with the European Union are not moving quickly, but Toews believes Canada will eventually get a deal.
“I believe beef access will be negotiated at the 11th hour in some back room in Brussels,” said Toews, who hopes beef won’t be the loser in the trade talks to save the supply managed industries.
John Weekes, an international trade consultant, said it was heartening to hear the federal government mention Canada’s EU negotiations in its recent throne speech. It said it aimed at completing a free trade agreement with the EU by 2012.
While it was only one line in the throne speech, Weekes said it is a sign of the government’s commitment to agriculture.
“The government is very concerned about opening markets for producers,” said Weekes.
The lucrative European market is an important one for Canada, especially for beef. He said it’s estimated EU countries will need to import one million tonnes of beef by 2015.
Gaining access to the Chinese market has also been a slow process.
“Not one pound of beef has gone to China yet. The Chinese have thrown up roadblock after roadblock. It’s been glacial to say the least.”
Toews said he is optimistic China will eventually open its borders to Canada. Canada recently reached a beef access deal with South Korea that is expected to end a World Trade Organization challenge.
It has backed off on its challenges with Japan after that country’s earthquake, but will soon force the country to reopen negotiations.
“They continue to hide behind excuses of political instability. Before the earthquake, Japan always cited another election for the reason of not moving forward,” he said.
“In my view, when we’re done with Korea, Japan would be our next recommendation for a WTO challenge.”
Canada now has full bone-in access to Mexico on cattle younger than 30 months, but negotiations have stalled on access for cattle older than 30 months.
“We know we have to get this market access back.”
He said the CCA has spent most of its resources fighting COOL.
“The effort that has gone into fighting this case is huge and the cost is excessive.”
Toews said Canada doesn’t want the U.S. to completely rescind its labelling rules. Instead, it wants the legislation changed so that cattle born and raised in Canada but slaughtered in U.S. plants would be eligible for Product of U.S. status.
“We’re hoping we can affect change in the U.S.”
