Decision puts Canadian pork and beef back on the menu

BEIJING LOOKS TO BOOST PORK SUPPLY IN TIME FOR CHINESE NEW YEAR FESTIVITIES

China will resume imports of Canadian pork and beef, ending a four-month impasse that locked exporters out of a crucial market at a time of fraying relations between the two countries.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the news Tuesday in a tweet that credited the meat industry and Dominic Barton, Canada’s newly appointed ambassador to China for the development.

“Good news for Canadian farmers today: Canadian pork and beef exports to China will resume,” Trudeau said. “Thanks to Ambassador Barton and the Canadian meat industry for their work on re-opening this important market for our meat producers and their families.”

China suspended imports of Canadian meat in late June after discovering forged certificates attached to a batch of pork. Officials

launched investigations into the issue and had been awaiting a response from China to a proposed action plan designed to reassure the country.

The suspension came during a low point in declining relations between Ottawa and

Beijing that began in December when Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies Co, was detained in Vancouver on a U.S. extradition request. China, which has demanded her return, has also halted Canadian exports of canola seed and detained two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, on charges of espionage.

The two men remain behind bars and their detention is widely considered retaliation for Meng’s arrest.

China’s decision to reopen its market to Canadian meat comes as its pork inventory has bottomed out following National Day celebrations. Unable to replenish those supplies in time for Chinese New Year festivities at the end of January, Beijing has been looking to alternate sources of supply, said Christine McCracken, a senior industry analyst at Rabobank in New York.

“They’ve lost just over half of their own herd because of African swine fever, their inventory is depleted and it’s not coming back,” McCracken said. “So effectively they’ve run out of pork. That may be why they’re looking past some other issues.”

Renewed access to the Chinese market is critical for Canadian pork producers, who were on track to double their shipments to the country before the suspension took effect. The value of Canadian pork exports to China — $514.3 million in 2018 — had already shot to $419 million by June as a combination of escalating trade restrictions on U.S. pork and an outbreak of African swine fever dramatically reduced supplies in the Asian nation.

“We’re still awaiting details, but this is obviously very positive news for us,” said Gary Stordy, director of government and corporate affairs at the Canadian Pork Council. “For us moving forward we want to make sure we have the right measures in place to make sure we meet their requirements from now on.

“We were on our way to making China a billion-dollar market,” said Stordy. “And even prior to African swine fever, China was an important to us.”

Nearly one-third of all Canadian pork exports go to China and roughly 30 per cent of every hog in the Canadian herd ends up in the country. China, the world’s largest pork consumer, is also an important market for “offal,” the pig ears, snouts and trotters that are part of Chinese cuisine but are considered farm waste in western countries.

The Chinese market is less important to the beef industry. The country represented 2.6 per cent of all Canadian

WE WERE ON OUR WAY TO MAKING CHINA A BILLION -DOLLAR MARKET.

beef exports in 2018, though its important has grown rapidly. Beef shipments jumped 445 per cent to 5,300 tonnes in the first quarter — amounting to $48 million in trade.

Beef exports displaced by the meat suspension were largely redirected to other markets, including those opened up under the 11 nation Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), said Fawn Jackson, spokesperson for the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. Beef exports to Japan tripled in January as the deal came into effect.

“The silver lining is Canada does have diverse market access,” said Jackson. “But certainly the opportunities are large in China and we want to be part of that.”