VANCOUVER – If not for BSE appearing almost four years ago, Canada could have been a contender in the world beef arena.
Instead, says the chair of the Canada Beef Export Federation, setbacks continue and it might be time to take a more aggressive stance
“A strong Canadian dollar for most of the year, higher costs of production and processing in Canada and restricted access to all of our major export markets contributed to a significant decline in Canadian beef exports in 2006,” said Arno Doerksen during the federation’s semi-annual meeting in Vancouver.
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Canadian processors are at 70 percent capacity, with productivity hampered by labour shortages and more live cattle heading south to the United States.
As well, Canada cannot find enough cattle for the Japanese market that are proven to be younger than 21 months. Further, Japan has not indicated it plans to lift the age to the international standard of 30 months or younger.
Access limits in key markets such as Japan and South Korea remain a problem on a competitive stage where world beef trade is accelerating. Premiums to beef producers are lost without access.
“Proactive initiatives toward animal health and food safety like the Canadian cattle identification system and the specific attributes of our grading system have been recognized by our international customers as delivering value in those markets, but can only be realized when we have meaningful access,” Doerksen said.
It may be time for Canada to use international trade agreements to assert itself and regain access to important markets.
“We need to exploit the trade dispute mechanisms that are in place within WTO (World Trade Organization) and NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement),” he said.
In an interview, Doerksen questioned whether the Canadian government has enough employees to simultaniously work on a number of priority markets, address trade challenges and handle the regulatory issues that come with meeting international specifications.
“From my perspective we need to focus the whole industry on how we accomplish trade success. We have had four years without access” he said.
When Canada worked extra hard to return to Hong Kong before the United States, it paid dividends that continue to hold.
Hong Kong imported 167,674 tonnes of beef for the first 10 months of 2006. Of that, Canada shipped 6,368 tonnes to the end of October while the U.S. sold 443 tonnes.
Canada may also need an attitude change.
“We are export reliant but we act in many ways as a domestic industry that considers its international sales to be optional,” said Ted Haney, president of the Canada Beef Export Federation.
Canada needs to adjust more readily to exceed international standards and regulations at a time when world trade is increasing. International beef trade climbed to 7.9 million tonnes from 7.1 million four years ago. In 2007 is expected to reach 8.3 million tonnes.
The U.S. accounts for one quarter of this amount while Canada has less than 10 percent of trade.
As well, a continuing reliance on a few markets is not wise because when a border closes, the industry nearly collapses.
“Australia, India, Uruguay and Brazil all export less than 50 percent of their beef and cattle to their top market,” Haney said.
If one market closes they can shift to another.
