The federal government is investing $8.3 million to support the local beef industry after China suspended all Canadian meat shipments.
China made the move in June, claiming a Canadian shipment included the banned pork additive ractopomine, but the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said the pork's export certificate was inauthentic. The RCMP is now investigating.
"Chinese officials are also pursuing an investigation so it’s really hard to tell when we will find out who’s behind the inauthentic certificates," said Marie-Claude Bibeau, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. She made the funding announcement at Calgary Stampede.
$5.3 million is going toward Canada Beef to grow sales in markets including Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America.
"All of the Southeast Asian markets, the volumes are small but the increases are quite impressive, they’re double digit growth," said Michael Young, president of Canadian Beef.
Another $1.7 million will go toward the Canadian Cattlemen's Association for new tools to build public trust in its products.
"With these amounts of money we’re developing tools that are practical for the industry and at the same time are verifiable so that we can demonstrated to our customers," said Dennis Laycraft, executive vice-president of Canadian Cattleman’s Association.
China is Canada’s third largest market for beef, with $97 million sold last year, and $48 million sold within the first quarter 2019. At this point there is no federal plan to compensate beef producers but data is being collected on how they are being impacted.
"I understand they are being hurt by the situation and this is why our priority is why our top priority is to reopen the market," said Bibeau.
The stopped meat shipments come amid the diplomatic dispute between China and Canada over the December arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver.
