For a man in the middle of the uphill struggle last week to keep world markets open to Canadian beef, Ted Haney was sounding surprisingly optimistic.
Almost immediately after the May 20 announcement of a bovine spongiform encephalopathy case in Alberta, the doors slammed shut to most of Canada’s major export markets – the United States, Mexico, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
But the president of the Canada Beef Export Federation said the crisis should be short-lived and industry plans for an expanded export trade by 2010 should be reachable if the BSE case proves to be an isolated incident.
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“Clearly our goals for 2003 are disrupted, but I think we’re on track for 2005 and 2010,” Haney said.
Those industry plans call for a dramatic increase in beef and veal sales to non-American markets. Last year, the U.S. market absorbed 77 percent of the $2.2 billion worth of beef and veal exports.
By 2010, the industry wants the U.S. share to fall below 50 percent.
Still, while he was sounding optimistic about the long term, Haney and other industry leaders are engaged in a frantic and high-pressure short-term campaign to reopen the closed markets as quickly as possible.
On May 22 he was in Mexico, assuring buyers that Canada is doing all it can to trace the BSE case and ensure the Canadian beef supply is safe.
“It’s our belief we have to be accountable and transparent,” Haney said in the telephone interview. “I believe our message is being well received. They are still selling it and selling it as Canadian beef. It is the kind of support we were looking for.”
Last year, Mexico bought almost 76,000 tonnes of beef products.
“The federation’s mandate at this challenging time is to facilitate a resumption of international trade while maintaining confidence in Canada’s beef products and industry,” the export group said in a message to customers May 21. “At the same time, the federation’s focus remains the long-term development of export markets to the benefit of Canada’s cattle and beef
industry.”
The short-term challenges were formidable.
U.S. agriculture secretary Ann Veneman said she hopes the border ban is temporary. She praised Canada’s regulatory system, noted that the Canadian and American beef industries are integrated and insisted she “would not hesitate” to eat Canadian beef.
In Congress, however, some representatives and senators were insisting that the border not be reopened until Canadian inspection processes are revamped.
“Until we are assured that the trading of Canadian beef is safe and that the Canadian government demonstrates a commitment to change their food safety and food inspection systems, the U.S. border ought to remain closed to Canadian beef imports of any kind,” said Byron Dorgan. The North Dakota senator and regular critic of Canada wrote in a May 23 letter to Veneman that “the American consumer and the American beef industry deserve no less.”
In other key markets such as Japan and South Korea, federation and Canadian embassy staff were working to assure buyers that the Canadian system is doing its job.
“The key is to be as open with them as possible, so they understand we are not hiding anything,” said Haney.
As of May 26, China was one of the few targeted export markets that had not closed the border to Canada. Last year, China and Hong Kong imported more than 3,000 tonnes and are expected to double that this year.
“There has been no announcement from our capital so I assume the border is open,” said an official at the Chinese embassy in Ottawa.
The European Union, which has been fighting Canada over use of beef hormones and imports little Canadian beef, also said it will not close the border.
“We do not feel there is a need for any action because we believe the Canadian system is working appropriately,” said EU Ottawa-based official Roy Christenson.
Canadian trade minister Pierre Pettigrew said the European endorsement is politically important, if not a boost for sales.
