Canadian Beef Exports to Russia Set to Double, Federation Says

Canadian beef shipments to Russia probably will more than double this year after exporters were permitted to sell more products, according to the Canada Beef Export Federation.

Shipments will likely rise to 12,000 metric tons from 5,600 tons last year, Ted Haney, president of the Calgary-based federation, said today at a seminar in Moscow. That would exceed the organization’s goal for 2020 of 11,000 tons in deliveries, he said.

“We set our 2020 goal in January 2009,” Haney said in an interview after the seminar. “Our industry said it will take 10 to 11 years to double our exports. And then that happened in one year.”

Specialists in Canada are re-evaluating forecasts for exports to Russia in 2011, 2015 and 2020 in light of the increase, and new projections will be ready in a month, according to Haney. Russia was re-categorized in September as a key market for Canadian beef exporters, rather than an emerging market, he said.

“Our industry reclassified Russia as a key market,” he said at the seminar. “It’s our sixth key market in the world.”

The federation represents exporters including Cargill Inc., its website shows. Federation members account for about 95 percent of Canada’s cattle and beef industry, according to a presentation at the seminar by Chairman Gib Drury.

To contact the reporter on this story: Marina Sysoyeva in Moscow at msysoyeva@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net