Producers worry as RCMP investigate China’s claims towards Canadian meat

One Alberta farmer says China’s meat suspension could lead to Canadians paying more for their beef. Rachelle Elsiufi has more.

CALGARY (660 NEWS) – Beef producers are hoping for a quick resolution after China banned all meat shipments from Canada.

China made the announcement earlier this week saying a shipment of pork contained an illegal additive. That’s on top of some shipments containing forged export certificates.

RCMP has been called into to investigate those scenarios.

WATCH: Chinese meat ban bad for pork producers

According to Federal Trade Minister Jim Carr, the investigation began about 10 days ago when China alerted the government about the fake export certificates.

Carr is suggesting it might be smugglers, trying to take advantage of the Canadian brand.

The ban has producers wondering if and when shipments could resume.

Bob Lowe with the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association is hoping the ban isn’t some political powerplay.

“We’ve been considering ourselves very lucky that we haven’t faced any retaliatory stuff from China, maybe this is not. I hope not, I hope that we’re just caught up in a thing that’s going to be fixed in a day or two.”

Lowe said the Chinese market was relatively small for Canadian beef but was growing at a rapid rate.

“Since the first quarter of 2019, the volume that we shipped into China grew by somewhere over 400 per cent.”

Meanwhile, on the pork side, China has been taking about 30-per cent of Canada’s exports.

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