The Beef industry is welcoming news Canadian pork and beef exports to China will resume.

Canada stopped issuing meat export certificates upon China's request back in June, after China Customs discovered a shipment of non-Canadian pork exhibiting technical irregularities and fraudulently certified as Canadian with falsified documents, according to a statement from the Canadian Meat Council in September.

Alberta Beef Producers Chair and Trochu area cattle producer, Charlie Christie, says he was hopeful when he saw comments on social media Monday night the lead negotiator was on his way to Beijing.

"It's obviously positive. Anytime that you can open a market that was showing as much promise as the Chinese one was, it just gives us optimism we'll rebuild the momentum we had there and carry on. It's the kind of news that floats all boats."

Shipments of Canadian beef to China represented 2.6 per cent of Canada’s total beef exports last year according to the Canadian Cattlemen's Association.

The organization says in the first half of 2019, Canadian beef exports to China were up 299 per cent in volume and 271 per cent in value.

They say this totaled 11,315 tonnes valued at $96 million.

Christie says fall calf run prices and cattle futures have been sideways and sluggish, adding he's sure this news will have a positive effect on the market.

"I'm sure there was pressure on the Chinese to access protein worldwide," Christie said. "Mainly, it's our pork industry that will see a really strong difference right away, but that removes protein from the North American market, and that opens it up to other proteins such as beef, so it's definitely going to have a positive effect."

Christie says it will be nice to deliver some good news at the Association's fall producer meetings tonight.

Meantime, the Canadian Cattlemen's Association (CCA) is thanking the Governments of China and Canada for their work in resolving this issue.

“The Canadian beef industry looks forward to the resumption of trade and continuing to build the long-standing Canada-China trade relationship,” said CCA Vice President and Chair of the Foreign Trade Committee, Bob Lowe.

Since June, CCA says it's been actively engaged in discussions with government officials to help assure China of the safety of Canadian beef.

"The Government of Canada completed an investigation and submitted an Action Plan that has led to the re-establishment of exports to China; all establishments eligible to export as of June 25, 2019, are once again eligible," the Association said in a statement.

The Cattlemen's Association says they and other industry stakeholders will be in China in the coming weeks to continue to build on the Canada-China trade relationship.

 

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