WESTERN PRODUCER — It’s been two decades since Canada’s beef exports were first affected by the discovery of BSE here, but some of the last remaining restrictions are finally being lifted.
Taiwan is the latest country to lift restrictions on Canadian beef products from cattle older than 30 months. It comes as Canada and Taiwan continue negotiations on a Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Arrangement.
Taiwan had closed its borders to all Canadian beef following the 2003 discovery of an Alberta cow infected with BSE.
Those restrictions eased in 2016 with Taiwan opening its market to Canadian beef younger than 30 months.
The move follows Japan announcing earlier this year that it was removing all remaining restrictions on Canadian beef — including processed products. That country opened its borders to beef older than 30 months in 2019.
Some products will remain ineligible to access the Taiwanese market, including ground beef, internal organs as well as specified risk materials.
While Taiwan is not a large export market, with Canadian beef exports valued at a little less than $14 million, it is being seen as an opportunity to build greater trading ability.
Currently, the United States is Taiwan’s largest beef supplier, making up a little more than half of the country’s nearly $2 billion in imports.
Meanwhile, China remains firmly closed to Canadian beef following Canada’s reporting of an atypical case of BSE found in Alberta in late 2021.
Atypical cases are not the result of contaminated feed, unlike Canada’s BSE cases in the early 2000s. It is naturally occurring, though rare.
Two other countries that introduced restrictions following discovery of the atypical case, South Korea and the Philippines, lifted their bans within weeks.
That 2021 case also did not affect the World Organization for Animal Health’s May 2021 status for Canada being listed as a negligible risk for the disease.
At the time of China’s closing its market, the country was Canada’s third-largest export market valued at nearly $200 million.
