South Korea is all set to resume beef imports from Canada, following the lifting of a temporary ban over BSE or mad cow disease
In February 2015, the country banned beef from Canada after a cow was discovered with bovine pongiform encelopathy in Edmonton. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said that contaminated feed was the most likely cause of the case of mad cow disease. However, no part of the Black Angus cow entered human food or animal feed systems, it reiterated. Dave Solverson, president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, said, “South Korea holds huge potential for beef and especially cuts and offals that are underutilised here at home. South Korea is a market that will pay more for those select items and that helps to increase the overall value of the animal for producers.”
South Korea is the sixth largest beef market for Canada. In 2014, beef exports were valued at US$26mn of Canada's total beef export share of US$1.9bn.
Further, with the implementation of the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement in late 2014, the association said Canadian beef exports to Korea have the potential to exceed US$50mn per year.
Asia has long been a high-value market for Canadian agricultural exports. According to Statistics Canada, the East Asia region contains two of Canada’s biggest markets for agricultural and agri-food exports in 2014 (China, at US$4.76bn, at second place behind the USA; and Japan, at third place with US$3.81bn). Other export markets surpassing the US$200mn-mark include India (US$914.3mn), South Korea (US$578.8mn), Indonesia (US$546.3mn) and Taiwan (US$222.9mn).
