Ventures Dialogue

I’m not the only Canadian who has just returned from Hong Kong.  Gerry Ritz, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and his staff were also on my flight home Saturday.  As I mentioned last week, the minister was speaking to a business audience in Hong Kong on Thursday about Canada’s exemplary food safety record.  Later he signed an agreement-in-principle with Hong Kong to expand Canada’s beef exports.

Duncan Mavin of the National Post attended the Minister’s speech last week and spoke to the head of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association.  Here’s an excerpt from his story:

The cattle chief also scents opportunity here in Asia’s street markets, where vendors boil and fry parts of the cow most Canadians won’t touch and all manner of offal hangs from the hooks in the butchers’ stores.

“People think of beef as steak cuts, but there are a lot of beef products other than that, some that we [in Canada] don’t even eat,” he [Brad Wildeman, President of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association] said.

In addition to there being no domestic market for some cuts, there are also other products, such as beef tongue, that are eaten at home but that fetch a much higher price in Asia — as much as $22 rather than $1.50 for tongue in Canada.

In all, if Canadian farmers could sell in Asia some products that might otherwise be tossed away or into the grinder, it would add another $100 or 10% to the value of each animal, Mr. Wildeman estimates.

As I’ve explained in other stories, Canadian food products are generally considered high quality and safe in Hong Kong.  Already some Canadian beef is on the shelves.  Growth in the Hong Kong market will definitely benefit Canadian producers, and with any luck, it will then open doors to other larger markets in the region.