WESTERN PRODUCER — In a reversal of a five-year trend, Canada is importing less beef from Europe this year.
From January to the end of April, Canada purchased $25 million worth of beef from European Union countries.
That’s a decline of 34 percent from the $38 million imported during the same period in 2022.
The downturn in beef imports from Europe represents a short-term change in trading patterns.
From 2018-22 the amount of beef entering Canada from Spain, Ireland, Italy and other EU countries has climbed dramatically.
In 2018, EU beef shipments to Canada were worth $15 million. By 2022, that figure hit $114 million. EU exports boomed after Canada and Europe signed the Canada European Union Trade Agreement (CETA) in 2017.
Meanwhile, Canada has struggled to export beef to Europe, despite gaining a 65,000 tonne tariff-free quota in the CETA deal.
The Europeans have thrown up technical barriers to Canadian beef, such as objecting to carcass washes used at Canadian packing plants.
“We got a good deal as far as the tariff goes, and quotas for darn near 65,000 tonnes of duty-free access for Canadian beef is a needle mover,” Ryder Lee, general manager of the Canadian Cattle Association, told The Western Producer last year.
“But if our big plants can’t access that (because of barriers), then it’s not moving that needle.”
In 2022, Canada shipped $22 million worth of beef to the EU, so the deficit in beef trade with Europe was more than $80 million.
However, in the first four months of 2023, Canadian exporters are having more success in the EU market:
- From Jan. 1 to the end of April, beef exports to Europe were $10.7 million.
- That’s up 73 percent from $6.2 million in the same period in 2022.
- Canada is on pace to sell $30 million in beef to the EU in 2023, which would be the highest amount since CETA was enacted.
The European market is lucrative for Canadian exporters because prices are extremely strong. Data from cdnbeefperforms.ca shows the average price of Canadian beef exported to the Netherlands is $19.63 per kilogram. In comparison, the price per kilogram of beef shipped to Japan is $10.35.
The beef trade with Europe may be improving, but pork remains a problem.
Last year, Canada imported $285 million in pork from the EU and shipped only $1.2 million to Europe, a trade deficit of $284 million.
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