China opening up its market once again to Canadian beef and pork exports, is not only good news for farmers but also the Canadian economy.
Canadian Cattlemen's Association's Senior Manager of Government and International Relations, Fawn Jackson, made the comment on Wednesday, November 6, one day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shared the good news of the regained market access on Twitter.
Jackson says beef shipments to China last year totaled 2.6 per cent of Canada's beef exports, and opportunity is growing.
"In 2018, we did around $97 million worth of business, and in the first half of 2019 we did that same amount," she explains.
The Canadian Cattlemen's Association and industry stakeholders will be traveling to China in the coming weeks to strengthen trade relations.
Jackson says the meetings were scheduled whether they had access to the Chinese market or not.
"That's because this trade relationship is very important to us. We'll be happy to now move those conversations forward and think about the future in terms of what the Canada-China agriculture trade relationship [will] look like in the coming year."
Canada stopped issuing meat export certificates upon China's request back in June, which the Cattlemen's Association says was due to the discovery of non-compliant pork claiming to be Canadian.
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