Trade is up across the board for Canadian producers with more beef sold to the Pacific Rim, United States and other customers.
The Canada Beef Export Federation reported that beef and veal exports to Asia and Mexico increased by 36 percent in 1997; a year when many countries encountered declining sales due to food safety scares and a weak Asian currency.
Asian buyers bought $129,306,000 worth of beef products. Japan was the best customer taking 18,011 tonnes, an increase of about 3,000 tonnes over the year previous. South Korea went up to 6,591 tonnes compared to 4,438 tonnes in 1996.
Another major buyer was Mexico, which doubled its purchases to 6,463 tonnes in 1997 from 3,140 tonnes in 1996.
Canfax, a beef industry analysis firm, reports total world exports for 1997 were up two percent. A total of 7,743,640 tonnes were exported to countries like Cuba, Russia, the United States and South America. These exports were worth $2.356 billion. The U.S. is still Canada’s best beef buyer. Beef exports were up 16 percent at 2,898,594 tonnes, worth $905,201,000.
First quarter figures for 1998 are not yet compiled.
