Canada’s national cattle industry body has welcomed the country’s new trade deal with Indonesia which it says will bring new market access opportunities for the 60,000 Canadian beef producers it represents.

It follows the completion of negotiations this week for a Canada-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

“Canadian negotiators worked tirelessly to secure comprehensive tariff free access for Canadian beef and to address challenges for the Canadian beef sector,”  Canadian Cattle Association (CCA) President Nathan Phinney said in a statement.

“We thank the Government of Canada negotiating team for the positive outcomes of both CEPA and the MOU specific to beef.”

The CCA statement noted that global demand for beef is increasing and there is growing momentum for Canada in the Indo-Pacific region.

It said that during the trade mission, CCA took part in market visits with Canada Beef and heard directly from retailers that their customers are looking for high quality grain finished beef.

“CCA looks forward to the CEPA coming into force, as it will provide further market diversification and opportunities for Canadian beef producers to compete globally and find new markets for our high-quality beef,” Mr Phinney said.

The Canadian Meat Council also released a statement describing the trade deal as a landmark agreement that represents a significant opportunity for Canada’s meat industry to expand its presence in one of the largest and fastest-growing markets in the Indo-Pacific region.

The primary exporters of beef to Indonesia and Australia, Brazil the US and New Zealand, with imports of Indian buffalo meat (grey) also a major presence in the market since 2017. Chart courtesy of MLA.

Indonesia has long been the Australian cattle industry’s largest import customer for live cattle. It is estimated that approximately 25 percent of total beef consumption in Indonesia comes from Australian live cattle, from beef mostly sold through wet markets.

Indonesia has also been buying increasing volumes of Australian boxed beef over the past 18 months, as Beef Central highlighted in a recent report.

In October Indonesia set an all-time monthly record for boxed beef volume out of Australia, at 11,026 tonnes.

The figure was close to double the volume of trade seen in October last year, and followed on from September’s volume that trended much higher at more than 8500t.

Australian boxed beef has tariff-free access to Indonesia under the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement signed in 2022, along with tariff-free access for up to 598,000 live cattle per year, with volumes outside that quote attracting a 2.5pc tariff.

The US Meat Export Federation has also reported rising US boxed beef volumes into Indonesia this year.

Contributing factors have include the continued growth of the middle class in Indonesia, delays in imports of cheap Indian buffalo meat this year, the expansion in cold storage capacity in Indonesia in recent years and permit issues which have encouraged importers to stockpile beef to avoid shortages if a repeat of delayed new-year permit allocations happens again early in 2025.

The Canada-Indonesia trade deal comes amid threats by incoming US president Donald Trump to impose a 25 percent tariff on Canadian goods coming into the US.

Canada exports close to around 700,000 cattle to the US each year.

Canadian exports of non-dairy cattle to the US. Source: USDA

Canada has also exported in the range of 215,000 to 230,000 tonnes of beef and veal to the US each year.

Canadian cattle producers have told local media that that are closely monitoring the threat but for now are adopting a “wait and see” approach.

Canadan export destinations for boxed beef last year included Japan (19,401t), Mexico (13,717t), South Korea (8143t) and Vietnam (4439t), accordinfg to the USDA.

The Chinese market continues to remain closed to Canadian beef exports. It has been closed since Canada detected an atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) case in December 2021.