Tensions linger at the Canada Beef Export Federation as it attempts to rebuild markets for Canadian beef.
Those tensions were revealed last week during Manitoba Ag Days in Brandon when questions were raised about whether CBEF’s efforts would help producers.
“I can tell you that pre-BSE we had a wonderful working relationship with the packers,” said Shirley Conibear, who farms at Baldur, Man., and is promotion chair for the beef export federation.
“It was open and it was easy to go to those meetings and sit at the table and put your ideas forward, and they were open to discussing ideas with you.
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“I can also tell you that after BSE hit, it was far more difficult for me to go and sit at those tables knowing that the packers were making money on my back. But we still maintain that working relationship because it was important to carry us past BSE.”
Her comments came after a Saskatchewan rancher questioned the benefits from CBEF, an agency that includes representation from packers and producers. Don Campbell asked whether cattle producers can expect to share in the profits from increased exports.
“I can see that the beef export federation basically represents the large packers and is controlled by the large packers,” said Campbell of Meadow Lake, Sask.
“While it may be very beneficial to them to export the beef and get a higher price, what guarantee is there that out of their generosity they’re going to pay more for our cattle? There’s no connection whatsoever.
“We’ve just proven in the last two or three years when there’s no competition for fat cattle, and that’s basically the situation we’re in, raising the price of beef does nothing to raise the price of cattle,” Campbell said.
Canadian cattle producers remain angry that packers turned large profits during the past couple of years while producers endured depressed prices for their livestock.
Speaking at Manitoba Ag Days, Conibear said there are no guarantees that packers will pass a share of the profits from increased exports back to producers.
However, greater competition for Canadian beef creates the hope of higher producer returns, she said.
Seeking opportunities
CBEF is working to restore markets for Canadian beef that existed before BSE was confirmed in Canada in 2003. The federation also is seeking new markets, especially in Mexico and Asia.
Conibear said CBEF has set a goal of exporting 800,000 tonnes of Canadian beef by 2015, with half those exports going to the United States and the rest to other foreign markets. In 2002, the year before BSE, 75 percent of Canada’s beef exports went to the U.S.
“Going back to simply exporting 1.5 million head of live cattle into the U.S. and relying on the situation that made us so vulnerable in the first place is not a solution,” Conibear said. “Neither is replacing those live exports with an additional 500,000 tonnes of beef product.”
Canada is producing 500,000 tonnes more beef annually than it did before BSE. Part of that is consumed domestically, but export markets are needed to absorb much of the added production.
Meanwhile, there is a 600,000 tonne shortfall of beef supply in Asia, Conibear said.
“That is a tremendous market potential to which we must return.”
