Canada Could Export Beef To Japan By December
WINNIPEG (Dow Jones)--Canada could be supplying the Japanese market with beef products as early as December as long as the implementation of new import rules by the Japanese Government goes smoothly, an official with the Canadian Beef Export Federation (CBEF) said.
"If there is no delay in implementing the new rules, Canada could be shipping beef products to Japan as early as December," said Ted Haney, president of the Canadian Beef Export Federation (CBEF). "However, we have also been urging the industry not to get hung up on a particular month as any delay could prolong the resumption of beef trade with Japan."
No Canadian beef has been exported to Japan since prior to the discovery of BSE in a cow in Alberta in May of 2003.
Haney said that Japan was expected to complete its regulatory changes that will allow Canada to resume shipments of beef sometime between December 2005 and March 2006.
Japan's regulation changes will mean some restrictions for Canada's beef exporters, he said.
Haney said that Canada will be able to sell to Japan all edible beef products, including boneless beef, bone-in beef and offal products, which is an unrestricted range of products.
"But the restriction that will apply is that all the beef must have been derived from animals that have been verified to be 20 months or age or less," Haney said.
The Japanese age restriction will make it difficult at first for Canadian packers to comply. But over the year as the industry adapts, beef shipments from Canada to Japan should grow, he said.
"Our biggest problem is that we do not have a sufficient number of age- verified cattle available in commercial position at this time," Haney said. "It will not be good enough just to have 100,000 to 120,000 beef cattle age- verified. It will also require some organization on the part of the packers meaning a commitment to have kill capacity for these age verified cattle."
Canada's cattle industry has already initiated a program aimed at identifying and providing an age verification process, Haney said.
The Canadian Cattle Identification Agency has already been promoting throughout Canada the need to submit birth dates from cattle whose ID numbers have already been put into a computer-based tracking system.
He said there are already over 600,000 cattle in Canada in the system which are age-verified, although the majority of these animals were from the dairy industry.
Haney pointed out that the biggest, single source of age-verified cattle were those born in Quebec.
"All cattle in Quebec are not only identified, but they are also age- verified as well," he said.
The biggest processor of these age-verified cattle at the moment is Better Beef Limited in Guelph, Ontario, while the second-largest processor was located near Montreal, he said.
Haney said these two companies process a total of 2,000 to 2,500 Quebec cattle per week, accounting for roughly 3% of Canada's total slaughter capacity.
"Those two plants will likely be the first eligible companies that will be able to sell beef products to Japan," Haney said.
He speculated that a similar number of age-verified cattle would be processed by the other companies in Canada so that Canada will have 4,000 to 5,000 cattle per week whose products will be eligible to be exported to Japan.
Another potential problem is that it will not be until February or March that Canada will have enough young cattle moving through the system, Haney said. "Japan will be opening their border to Canadian beef at a time when Canada will have the lowest actual supply of cattle coming through the system," he said.
Haney forecast that the number of age-verified cattle in Canada eligible to be processed for the Japanese market would likely double within a year.
Canadian processors in a survey hoped to export 33,712 metric tonnes of Canadian beef to Japan in calendar year 2007, which would compare with none in both 2004 and so far in 2005, Haney said. By 2010, Canada was hoping exports of beef to Japan would be in the 47,656-ton range and by 2015 in the 67,551- ton range.
-By Dwayne Klassen, Dow Jones Newswires; (204)-947-1700;
WINNIPEG (Dow Jones)--Canada could be supplying the Japanese market with beef products as early as December as long as the implementation of new import rules by the Japanese Government goes smoothly, an official with the Canadian Beef Export Federation (CBEF) said.
"If there is no delay in implementing the new rules, Canada could be shipping beef products to Japan as early as December," said Ted Haney, president of the Canadian Beef Export Federation (CBEF). "However, we have also been urging the industry not to get hung up on a particular month as any delay could prolong the resumption of beef trade with Japan."
No Canadian beef has been exported to Japan since prior to the discovery of BSE in a cow in Alberta in May of 2003.
Haney said that Japan was expected to complete its regulatory changes that will allow Canada to resume shipments of beef sometime between December 2005 and March 2006.
Japan's regulation changes will mean some restrictions for Canada's beef exporters, he said.
Haney said that Canada will be able to sell to Japan all edible beef products, including boneless beef, bone-in beef and offal products, which is an unrestricted range of products.
"But the restriction that will apply is that all the beef must have been derived from animals that have been verified to be 20 months or age or less," Haney said.
The Japanese age restriction will make it difficult at first for Canadian packers to comply. But over the year as the industry adapts, beef shipments from Canada to Japan should grow, he said.
"Our biggest problem is that we do not have a sufficient number of age- verified cattle available in commercial position at this time," Haney said. "It will not be good enough just to have 100,000 to 120,000 beef cattle age- verified. It will also require some organization on the part of the packers meaning a commitment to have kill capacity for these age verified cattle."
Canada's cattle industry has already initiated a program aimed at identifying and providing an age verification process, Haney said.
The Canadian Cattle Identification Agency has already been promoting throughout Canada the need to submit birth dates from cattle whose ID numbers have already been put into a computer-based tracking system.
He said there are already over 600,000 cattle in Canada in the system which are age-verified, although the majority of these animals were from the dairy industry.
Haney pointed out that the biggest, single source of age-verified cattle were those born in Quebec.
"All cattle in Quebec are not only identified, but they are also age- verified as well," he said.
The biggest processor of these age-verified cattle at the moment is Better Beef Limited in Guelph, Ontario, while the second-largest processor was located near Montreal, he said.
Haney said these two companies process a total of 2,000 to 2,500 Quebec cattle per week, accounting for roughly 3% of Canada's total slaughter capacity.
"Those two plants will likely be the first eligible companies that will be able to sell beef products to Japan," Haney said.
He speculated that a similar number of age-verified cattle would be processed by the other companies in Canada so that Canada will have 4,000 to 5,000 cattle per week whose products will be eligible to be exported to Japan.
Another potential problem is that it will not be until February or March that Canada will have enough young cattle moving through the system, Haney said. "Japan will be opening their border to Canadian beef at a time when Canada will have the lowest actual supply of cattle coming through the system," he said.
Haney forecast that the number of age-verified cattle in Canada eligible to be processed for the Japanese market would likely double within a year.
Canadian processors in a survey hoped to export 33,712 metric tonnes of Canadian beef to Japan in calendar year 2007, which would compare with none in both 2004 and so far in 2005, Haney said. By 2010, Canada was hoping exports of beef to Japan would be in the 47,656-ton range and by 2015 in the 67,551- ton range.
-By Dwayne Klassen, Dow Jones Newswires; (204)-947-1700;
