May 23, 2005

Problems abound for Canadian beef despite re-entry in Philippines

The Philippines has lifted a ban on Canadian beef, placed in January last year following the discovery of the last two cases of BSE.

This good news was, however, tainted by concern that boxed beef shipments to the US could be halted. Contingency plans are currently underway in preparation for such a scenario.

A US Montgomery-based group R-CALF. Had been granted a temporary injunction blocking the resumption of beef trade with Canada on March 2, just days before trade was to resume.

Canada's beef industry, which exports C$1.5 billion worth of beef to the US in 2004, would be negatively impacted. This could mean a stalling of up to 337,000 tonnes of beef a day, according to the Canadian Beef Export Federation.

Canada's cattle associations are deciding which to do with the cattle and tonnage currently being processed and shipped to the US.

One solution would be to send 54,000 head a week back to the domestic market and 16,000 cattle a week to Hong Kong, Macau and Mexico.

The mad cow crisis has cost the industry an estimated C$7 billion in losses since May 2003, when mad cow disease was discovered in Canada.