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Mexico Lifts Decade Long Ban on some Canadian Cattle Imports

Jun 29, 2016 | 1:33 PM

CALGARY: The beef industry is welcoming news that Mexico will lift a more than decade-long ban on some cattle imports.

The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association says it could lead to tens of millions of dollars in additional beef exports.

Mexico imposed a ban on Canadian beef imports in 2003 over fears of mad cow disease.

While some restrictions were lifted a year later, a ban on cattle over 30 months old is still in place.

That ban will end on October 1st, ending one of the few remaining global trade restrictions related to mad cow disease.

In the two years before the ban, Canada exported around 270-million and 290-million dollars worth of beef to Mexico, with cattle over 30 months of age making up close to a quarter of the total.

The Cattlemen’s Association says lifting the ban would allow Canadian producers to eventually boost exports back to that range.

The association says beef exports to Mexico averaged 136 million dollars annually between 2011 and 2015.