Meat + Poultry - July 2005 - 38

state-of-the-art equipment."
Once the U.S. border reopens there
will be pressure on cattle producers to
send their cattle south once again. But
there is a major push north of the border
to prevent that from happening.
"There's two things," he says. "There's
the marketing side where we have to get
as much value out of the product as
possible. At the same time, we have to
make sure that the cost environment is
competitive with other plants."
With the larger cow herds in Canada,
Laycraft says the issue is whether they
can be sustained by the existing infrastructure and marketing efforts.
"That's where a lot of the focus is,"
he adds.
Cattle groups and government
specialists are developing programs

such as the commercial beef utilization strategy that offers the industry
a method of pulling the better quality
cuts out of the mature cow and bull
slaughter to create products that will
displace a considerable amount of
imported beef. The program is getting
a lot of interest from other countries
where Canada is once again starting to
sell over 30-month beef.
Export investments
A second leg under the multilegged
self-sufficiency stool is the recognition
that to stand alone Canada must grow
its existing markets and penetrate new
markets. Early signs are that this is
happening.
On March 7 of this year, the Alberta
government made a C$30 million contribution to the Beef Market Develop-

OUT

of the penalty box

Many markets for Canadian beef or beef-related products have opened or
reopened in many countries, including:
* Tunisia has opened as a new
market to Canadian live cattle
both over and under 30 months.
* Macau has reopened to all
products including live cattle.
* Hong Kong reopened to boneless
beef under 30 months.
* South Africa, Japan and China
reopened to the sale of semen
and embryos.
* South Korea reopened to the
sale of semen.
* Russia and the Ukraine have
reopened to the sale of semen
and embryos.
* Iran reopened as a market to
the sale of boneless beef under
30 months, offal and embryos.
* Lebanon opened as a new market
to the sale of live cattle over and
under 30 months.
* United Arab Republic reopened
to the sale of semen.
* Antigua and Barbuda reopened
to the sales of boneless and
bone-in beef under 30 months as
well as to the sale of offal.

ment Fund to help expand existing and
find new markets for beef. This was followed, on March 10, by a federal government contribution of C$50 million.
The combined C$80 million is targeted at "an aggressive marketing campaign to reclaim and expand markets
for Canadian beef " using the expertise
of the Canada Beef Export Federation,

* Argentina reopened to the sale of
semen and embryos.
* Barbados has reopened to all
products other than live cattle,
semen and embryos.
* The Cayman Islands has reopened
to the sale of boneless and bone-in
beef under 30 months as well as offal
over 30 months.
* Chile has reopened to the sale
of semen.
* Cuba opened as a new market to live
cattle of all ages and reopened to the
sale of all boneless and bone-in beef as
well as semen and embryos.
* Honduras reopened to boneless beef
under 30 months and bone-in over
thirty months.
* Trinidad and Tobago reopened to
boneless beef under 30 months and
offal over 30 months.
* Mexico reopened to boneless beef
and offal under 30 months, offal over
30 months as well as semen and embryos.
* The United States reopened to bone
less beef and offal both over and under
30 months, as well as semen and embryos.

the Beef Information Centre and the
Canadian Beef Breeds Council.
Canadian Meat Council communications manager Lotte Elsgaard said
the Legacy Fund is intended to help
Canada's beef industry find more export markets.
"Our exports for 2004 were 90 percent
of what they were pre-B.S.E.," Elsgaard

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