Beef producers received some welcome holiday cheer when the first two shipments of Canadian beef arrived in Japanese grocery stores Dec. 23.
About eight tonnes of meat from Cargill Foods at High River, Alta., and Better Beef at Guelph, Ont., were flown to Japan.
The meat was featured by Hanamsa, a 66-store retail food chain based in Tokyo. Canadian beef was offered in 10 of the stores said Mike Young of the Canada Beef Export Federation.
“This was a commercial shipment, not a gift,” said Young.
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United States beef arrived in Japan in mid December but some was presented as a gift to officials there, he said.
The Canadian meat came from cattle younger than 21 months, with proof of age verified by birth certificate.
On Dec. 12, the day the Japanese border opened, birth registrations reached a record level for a single day when 35,000 applications were received at the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency. A normal day is 7,700 registrations, said Megan Gauley of the agency.
So far, about 1.6 million birth records have been entered, with about half the cattle being younger than 20 months. As more markets open, more registrations are expected.
(See Beef heads to Japan, page 2)
“It’s definitely a hot topic, especially with Japan opening,” said Gauley. “People are taking it seriously.”
Canada has been locked out of the Japanese market since May 2003 when a case of BSE was confirmed in Alberta. Japan is the world’s largest importer of beef, buying as much as 900,000 tonnes per year. The export federation’s statistics show Japan bought 23,971 tonnes of Canadian beef worth $96 million in 2002.
As of Dec. 21, five Canadian plants were approved for export to Japan including Lakeside Packers of Brooks, Alta., Better Beef – Cargill Meat Solutions of Guelph, Ont., Cargill Foods of High River, Alta., Delft Blue of Montreal and XL Foods Inc. of Calgary.
A team of South Koreans has arrived in Canada to inspect facilities to resume exports to that country sometime next year. The Koreans have not indicated what age of cattle or range of products they may accept. They imported 17,342 tonnes in 2002.
The United States resumed exports to Japan in mid December and Hong Kong announced it will accept American beef from cattle younger than 30 month of age as of Dec. 28. Canada returned to the Hong Kong market in 2004.
The Kyodo News Service reported U.S. sirloin beef was selling for $14 per pound.
