Mexico beef deal good for Alberta and all of Canada: Cattlemen’s Association
Posted Jun 28, 2016 2:03 pm.
Last Updated Jun 28, 2016 2:12 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association has been working and waiting a long time to hear the news Tuesday that Mexico will be lifting its restriction of Canadian beef exports starting in October.
It dates back to May 2003 when Canada had its first outbreak of mad cow disease.
“We lost every export market overnight,” CCA Director of Government and International Relations John Masswohl said. “Mexico was actually one of the first markets to reopen for our beef from cattle under 30 months, but we’ve been working ever since to get the over 30-month trade to be established.
The association says Canada would average up to $290 million a year in exports to Mexico before 2003, a quarter of which was in over 30 products.
It’s good news for Alberta and all Canadian producers and the key now, Masswohl says, is farmers having the confidence to grow their herds more, which he thinks will eventually happen.
“When it does, now we know that we’ve got this market back and we’ve got places for the market to go,” he said.
Over the last few years, the yearly exports to Mexico have been around $135 million, but Masswohl said Canada can easily get back to $250 million once production levels are back to what they used to be.
He added the next big markets his group wants to see restrictions lifted are in Asia.
