February 27, 2008

Canada to revive beef exports to Taiwan

Canadian beef exporters plan to fully regain the Taiwanese beef market after a four-year ban caused by mad cow disease halted the trade, officials said Monday.

The Canada Beef Export Federation Taiwan Office, sponsored a beef cuisine promotional event in Taichung City Monday to boost beef imports to the island.

Prior to the detection of mad cow disease in Canada, Taiwan used to import more than 3,000 tonnes of the red meat annually until 2003.

In June 2007, Taiwanese officials lifted the ban, yet annual import volume remained far short of previous demand, only reaching around 500 tonnes last year, Ted Haney, president of the federation, said.

Haney said he is confident that Canada can revive beef exports to Taiwan, which is currently dominated by Australian beef.

Canadian beef held a 6-percent market share in Taiwan before the import ban.

Aside from the beef produced locally, Canada also competes with US, Australia and New Zealand for the Taiwanese market.