Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) president Travis Toews is pleased with the progress made during the federal government’s recent trade mission to China.
Toews was part of an official industry delegation accompanying Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the week-long mission, along with Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Gerry Ritz and International Trade Minister Ed Fast.
During the trade mission, Prime Minister Harper and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao cleared the way for the resumption of Canadian tallow exports to China and Minister Ritz announced an understanding with his Chinese counterpart to work towards the approval of additional Canadian beef export facilities and the inclusion of bone-in beef and offal from cattle under-thirty months (UTM) of age as well as live dairy cattle.
The latter item sets in motion a process to expand the list of Canadian facilities eligible to export beef to China and to add bone-in UTM beef and offal products.
Eventually, it is expected that a further step of including beef from cattle over-thirty months of age would also be achieved in accordance with the June 2010 commitment and consistent with the scientific standards set by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
The immediate access to the Chinese beef tallow market by Canadian processors for the first time in almost a decade is beneficial to producers as well. This new access will add value to the overall price that Canadian cattle producers receive for selling their animals and provide incentive to process those animals in Canada.
China was the top export market for Canadian industrial tallow in 2002, worth $31 million.
During Canada’s nine-year absence, China’s global imports of tallow have grown to more than $400 million annually. Industrial tallow is used in soaps, cosmetics, waxes, biodiesel and lubricants.
The Canadian industry expects its renewed exports of tallow to outpace its previous performance and for the Chinese market for Canadian beef and tallow to exceed $110 million once full market access is achieved.
“This has been a very rewarding mission for Canadian cattle and beef producers,” said Toews.
In June 2010, during Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to Canada, China committed to restore access for all Canadian beef and beef products. It was expected the access would be phased in over time with the first two steps being boneless beef from UTM cattle and industrial beef tallow.
Since that time, extensive technical negotiations have taken place resulting in the boneless UTM access in May 2011 and the industrial beef tallow announced on Feb. 8 during the trade mission.
