EU imports $2.7 billion in beef, only $20 million from Canada, Germany exported $77 million in pork to Canada
The population of Bahrain, a tiny emirate next to Qatar, is about 1.5 million.
The population of Germany, a large country that is part of the Canada-Europe free trade deal, is around 83.2 million.
Logically, Germany should be larger market for Canadian beef but that wasn’t the case in 2022.
Statistics Canada data shows:
- From January to October last year, Canada exported $2.2 million worth of beef to Bahrain.
- From January to November last year, Canada exported $388,000 worth of beef to Germany, down from $548,000 in 2021.
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The Bahrain to Germany comparison is another example of the disappointing Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), a free trade deal that reached its fifth anniversary in September.
CETA was touted as a major win for Canadian farmers, expected to pry open the massive European market to Canadian agri-food products.
CETA advocates said annual beef export values to Europe could reach $600 million and pork would reach $400 million. Five years and several months later, Canadian exports are a fraction of those figures. Meanwhile, the Europeans are exporting a gigantic amount of beef and pork to Canada.
From January to November 2022, StatCan data shows:
- Canada shipped $20.5 million in beef to Europe, up 0.4 percent from $20.4 million in the same period in 2021.
- The EU exported $105 million in beef to Canada, an increase of 19 percent over 2021.
- For pork, the EU exported $260 million in pork products to Canada in the 11-month period. That’s up 14.6 percent from 2021 and double the exports to Canada since 2019.
- Germany alone exported $77 million in pork to Canada.
- Canada shipped $1.7 million in pork to the EU, down 32 percent from 2021.
In total, Canada’s trade deficit in red meat with Europe, for the first 11 months of 2022, was $343 million.
Lack of Canadian beef shipments to the EU are particularly glaring because Europe is a major importer of beef. From January to November, Europe imported $2.7 billion worth, most of it from South America, the U.S. and Australia, based on EU data.
Canada’s red meat sector is well aware of the trade figures and industry leaders are frustrated with the ongoing non-tariff barriers to trade.
“We got a good deal as far as the tariff goes, and quotas for darn near 65,000 tonnes of duty-free access for Canadian beef is a needle mover,” Ryder Lee, general manager of the Canadian Cattle Association, told The Western Producer in September.
“But if our big plants can’t access that, then it’s not moving that needle.”
Technical barriers have prevented Cargill and JBS from selling into the EU market. The EU does not permit use of a product called peroxyacetic acid as a carcass wash. Lee said it’s “not far off of vinegar.”
But the barriers to red meat exports are bigger than a carcass wash. The EU should recognize Canadian health and safety protocols for meat processing and food safety.
“Picking on that one thing isn’t what we’re really looking for,” Lee said. “We’re looking for systems approval… We’ll take your approval processes, and you’ll do the same for us.”
Canadian agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau was in Berlin last week for meetings with agriculture ministers from Europe and dozens of other countries, as part of the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture.
She issued a statement about the meeting but it didn’t mention Europe’s non-tariff barriers to free trade. However, the minister did discuss agricultural trade.
“Minister Bibeau took part in conversations with her international counterparts and stakeholders, where she reinforced Canada’s role as a reliable and indispensable trading partner and discussed opportunities for enhanced cooperation in the agricultural sector.”
