February 19, 2004

Canada Beef Sales To Mexico Jumps On US Beef Ban

Canadian beef sales to Mexico has greatly increased since Mexico banned US beef imports following the discovery of mad cow disease there, a Canadian official said.
 
From January to the first week of February, Canada has been shipping an average of 3,200 metric tons per week of boneless beef and veal to Mexico, said Patti Negrave, an official with the Red Meat Section of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. She cited statistics from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, or CFIA.
 
Based on Ag Canada figures, Canada had shipped 71,627 metric tons of beef and veal to Mexico during the calendar year by the end of November 2003. Based on information from the Canadian Beef Export Federation, Canada's goal for calendar year 2003 had been 73,000 tons.
 
"Certainly with the U.S. border closed, Mexico has found itself in a tight supply situation," said Patti Negrave, an official with the Red Meat Section of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. "The lack of U.S. supply has resulted in Mexico turning to Canada to fill their beef requirements."
 
Of the recent weekly shipments, Negrave said: "That is a significant increase from what we saw when Mexico first reopened its border to Canadian beef under 30 months of age back in October," she said. During the October- December period, Canada had been shipping from 200 to 1,100 tons of beef products to Mexico per week.
 
Negrave said it was unlikely that Canada could maintain such exports to Mexico should Mexico reopen its border to the U.S.
 
"It will all depend on whether Mexican importers revert back to using U.S. beef products or whether Canada can make some fresh inroads," she said.
 
Mexico is traditionally the second-largest foreign market for U.S. beef. The U.S. exported 346,520 tons of beef to Mexico from January through November last year, worth U.S.$818 million, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation.
 
U.S. cattle producers have been lobbying for a gradual reentry of their products to Mexico.
 
Mexico was expected to lift its ban on U.S. cattle and beef in a few weeks when a new certification program for safety precautions against bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow disease, are unveiled by the U.S.
 
Mexico, like the U.S., accepts boneless beef products from Canada as long as they are from cattle under 30 months old. Canada announced it had discovered a case of BSE in May 2003.