May 7, 2014

Mexico's government has acted to effectively remove the last of it's BSE-related restrictions and will allow for import of US beef and beef products derived from cattle of any age.

 "This is an issue that the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF) has been working on for a number of years, and resolving it has been a lengthy process," said Chad Russell, USMEF regional director for Mexico, Central America and the Dominican Republic, contractor to the beef checkoff.

The changes to Mexico's import regulations were to take effect April 30, though shipments of over-30-month beef cannot begin until the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) updates its Export Library. USMEF expects this process to be completed within the next few days. This will also allow the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) export verification (EV) programme for Mexico, in which approximately 170 US establishments are currently enrolled, to be terminated.

According to information provided to USMEF, Mexico will accept either the new FSIS letter certificate or an existing letterhead certificate, along with the corresponding FSIS form, for product currently in the pipeline and for new shipments made over the next few weeks. So exporters will have some time - likely until late June - to make the transition to the new letterhead certificate and other documentation requirements.

Despite concerns over rising beef prices and tight supplies, the Mexican market has been performing well. US beef/beef variety exports have been above year-ago volumes in each of the past nine months, and 2014 exports -through February- were up 26% in volume and 40% in value from the same period in 2013.

The US holds about 90% of Mexico's imported beef market, with the remainder captured mostly by Canada. Canada's market share has edged higher in recent months, likely due to increased affordability as Canada's beef production has been recovering and the Canadian dollar has weakened. But with the exception of livers, Canada's exports to Mexico are still limited to beef derived from cattle less than 30 months of age.