Federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz announced today he has signed trade deals with Russia that could create new annual export beef markets worth more than $40 million.
It includes Russian agreement to immediately accept bone-in beef from cattle younger than 30 months with a promise that arrangements will be made to allow trade in bone-in beef from cattle older than 30 months by the end of the year.
The Canada Beef Export Federation (CBEF) said the resumption of bone-in beef cuts will create a $32 million market for Canadian exporters.
Ritz also announced a deal that could see $8 million worth of sheep and goat breeding stock sold to Russia over three years.
The industry was quick to take advantage of the trade deals.
Breeding stock exporter Hawkeye Land and Livestock Ltd. of Hodgeville, Sask., signed a deal to ship 10,000 head of cattle to a Russian company. Alta Exports International will help set up a beef breeding training centre “to make sure Russian buyers can maximize production from Canadian breeding stock.”
The announcements came in a telephone news conference from Moscow after Ritz completed a meeting with Russian deputy prime minister Victor Zubkov.
“We’re coming back with results for Canadian farmers,” Ritz said.
Industry representatives including those from CBEF and Canada Pork International travelled with Ritz.
The Russian agreement to allow bone-in beef imports followed an agreement-in-principle on the issue last summer when trade minister Stockwell Day visited Russia.
Agreement to quickly extend the deal to older cattle came during this trip. Ritz said both sides committed to having the rules in place by the end of December.
The Russians also agreed to work within this calendar year to reopen the border to Canadian beef offal. CBEF said it is a market that could be worth $10 million annually.
Russian access for Canadian cattle has been restricted since BSE was discovered in Alberta in 2003.
The Russians also reacted to the erroneous connection between H1N1 flu and pigs to limit access for Canadian pork earlier this year.
Ritz said a team of Russian officials will be in Canada next month to visit pork processing plants that have been delisted for exporting to Russia. A few Quebec plants can export pork to Russia but more numerous Ontario plants are still on a banned list.
He said Russia has promised to complete its approval of those plants for export by the end of December.
