Working on a beer budget with champagne tastes has not held back the Canada Beef Export Federation as it builds a presence in the competitive meat markets of Asia and Mexico.
But past federation chair Larry Sears said the group’s $4.5 million budget could use another $1 million to handle promotions, trade missions and consumer surveys to sell more Canadian beef to Asian and Mexican customers.
“It has affected our effectiveness, because we haven’t been able to run full programs,” Sears said.
However, the federation doesn’t plan to increase membership fees.
Read Also
Dry summer conditions can lead to poor water quality for livestock
Drought conditions in the Prairies has led to an decrease in water quality, and producers are being advised to closely monitor water quality for their animals.
“We couldn’t increase the members’ fees enough to take care of what we thought was going to be a shortfall.”
He said it’s not fair to expect packers and processors to pay more for market development.
“Cattle producers fail to recognize the packers’ contribution in the last couple years is that they have contributed $35 million in kind and in infrastructure in the development of these export markets.”
As a result, the federation must find other sources of funding, but Sears said it is an uphill battle convincing cattle producers that their greatest premiums come from export sales to Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan.
“Here in Alberta, the checkoff was increased two years ago. One of the reasons given for this direction was export market development.”
The Alberta levy is $2 per head every time an animal is sold.
Last year, the Alberta Cattle Commission gave the federation $1.1 million and has budgeted $936,550 for next year.
The commission will also join the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association global marketing strategy, which will distribute money among the federation, the Beef Information Centre and Beef Marketing Services International. Alberta’s proposed contribution to that strategy is nearly $4.5 million.
Canada’s $5 million efforts seem paltry compared to the United States Meat Export Federation’s $58 million budget and Australia’s $48 million market development fund.
However, federation executive vice-president Ted Haney said the group has produced results in the 11 years that it has promoted beef in Asia and Mexico.
Beef producers and processors with lofty ambitions to crack the Japanese market established it in 1989. Early sales were around 7,000 tonnes a year. It was not until 1995 that the federation started to see results when beef sales exceeded $10 million.
This past year sales surpassed 100,000 tonnes into Asian markets and Mexico.
Customers in South Korea and Japan have said Canada must have a higher profile among meat buyers at the wholesale and retail level if it expects to build sales.
The federation pays for six overseas offices that promote Canadian beef at the retail and food service level. The offices also handle marketing seminars and communication programs, and gather marketing information.
Money is also needed to explain Canada’s disease-free status in sensitive markets like Japan, where several cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy have slowed beef sales by as much as 50 percent.
