The following is a quote taken from an American based website I visit frequently. agcenter.com - (cattle report) It appears we have been noticed. I wonder if this is what R-Calf envisioned when they decided to make it their mission to close the border to Canadian cattle?
A New Competitor on the Scene
Canada is not prepared to sit idle in the competition for foreign beef markets. The Canadian cattle industry is preparing a global marketing plan to expand markets for its beef and create a major assault on what they regard as a U.S. protectionist move by forcing “country of origin” labels on beef. The industry, which contributes about $26-billion to the Canadian economy, wants to reduce its dependence on U.S. retailers and take the fight to the Americans on foreign soil, challenging them for a greater piece of Japan, China, South Korea and Taiwan. The new legislation requiring country-of-origin labels will pose a serious problem for Canada when Canadian beef will be required to be processed separately and displayed in a segregated beef counter in our supermarkets.
"We want to crush every obstacle to export growth," said Ted Haney,
president of the Canada Beef Export Federation, which is helping
spearhead the efforts in Asia. "If it's new demand, we want to take the
largest portion of that. If the market isn't growing, we want to displace
everybody that we can. It's a very aggressive, targeted, fierce program
that we've been asked to put together."
It is not just on the foreign markets that Canada plans to confront the
U.S.. Canada is far ahead of the United States on individual animal
identification and source verified beef is close to becoming a reality in Canada. These tools will allow Canada to advertise important trace
back elements that are not available in North America and have been
mandated in the EU and are known as the passport system.
Officials with the CBEF and the Canadian Cattlemen's Association are
now working with all sectors of the industry to devise an overseas export strategy that would cut Canada's reliance on the U.S. beef export trade to 50% in three years by effectively doubling exports to Mexico and Asia to $1.2-billion.
The assault by Canada could be just what is needed to get the U.S.
beef industry to come alive for expanded markets. Much of the recent
price decline for beef products in the U.S. can be directly traceable to
lackluster efforts to expand the U.S. export markets that have fallen prey to “mad cow” scares in Japan.
Expanded foreign markets should be a never-ending challenge. China
and the EU are two important markets that should be open to U.S. beef
but both have political obstacles. The middle meats are especially
desirable for the hotel restaurant trade all across the world. The future
for our domestic industry is often tied to the success of the export
markets and we should not concede those markets to anyone.
(Imagine little o'l us launching a "major assault" on anyone!)
A New Competitor on the Scene
Canada is not prepared to sit idle in the competition for foreign beef markets. The Canadian cattle industry is preparing a global marketing plan to expand markets for its beef and create a major assault on what they regard as a U.S. protectionist move by forcing “country of origin” labels on beef. The industry, which contributes about $26-billion to the Canadian economy, wants to reduce its dependence on U.S. retailers and take the fight to the Americans on foreign soil, challenging them for a greater piece of Japan, China, South Korea and Taiwan. The new legislation requiring country-of-origin labels will pose a serious problem for Canada when Canadian beef will be required to be processed separately and displayed in a segregated beef counter in our supermarkets.
"We want to crush every obstacle to export growth," said Ted Haney,
president of the Canada Beef Export Federation, which is helping
spearhead the efforts in Asia. "If it's new demand, we want to take the
largest portion of that. If the market isn't growing, we want to displace
everybody that we can. It's a very aggressive, targeted, fierce program
that we've been asked to put together."
It is not just on the foreign markets that Canada plans to confront the
U.S.. Canada is far ahead of the United States on individual animal
identification and source verified beef is close to becoming a reality in Canada. These tools will allow Canada to advertise important trace
back elements that are not available in North America and have been
mandated in the EU and are known as the passport system.
Officials with the CBEF and the Canadian Cattlemen's Association are
now working with all sectors of the industry to devise an overseas export strategy that would cut Canada's reliance on the U.S. beef export trade to 50% in three years by effectively doubling exports to Mexico and Asia to $1.2-billion.
The assault by Canada could be just what is needed to get the U.S.
beef industry to come alive for expanded markets. Much of the recent
price decline for beef products in the U.S. can be directly traceable to
lackluster efforts to expand the U.S. export markets that have fallen prey to “mad cow” scares in Japan.
Expanded foreign markets should be a never-ending challenge. China
and the EU are two important markets that should be open to U.S. beef
but both have political obstacles. The middle meats are especially
desirable for the hotel restaurant trade all across the world. The future
for our domestic industry is often tied to the success of the export
markets and we should not concede those markets to anyone.
(Imagine little o'l us launching a "major assault" on anyone!)
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