Canada Beef: Expanding markets and building health confidence

Canada Beef’s recent market development activities in priority markets in Southeast Asia are resulting in more possibilities for Canadian beef.

Demand for Canadian beef was evident in the Indo-Pacific and parts of Asia, with high interest shown at Canada Beef’s first booth at Food & Hospitality Indonesia 2025, at market development initiatives in Vietnam, and during Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Heath MacDonald’s trade mission to Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines.

Market diversification is essential to creating value for Canada’s beef industry. Canada Beef initiatives, along with the care and commitment of Canada’s beef producers, helps to make high-quality Canadian beef among the most trusted and in-demand products in the world.

Canada Beef welcomed recent news of restored access for Canadian beef to Australia. While it is unlikely that anything more than a limited amount of high-quality Canadian product will flow to Australia given current tight North American supplies and strong prices, the move is acknowledged for aligning with science and rules-based trade.

Canada Beef’s social media channels receive many comments concerning the price of beef at retail. Due to the supply-demand situation beef prices are expected to remain high through to 2027.

The Canadian Beef Information Gateway (Gateway) launched in 2022 to help consumers get the most out of 70+ beef cuts and it remains an excellent resource. Crucially, the Gateway provides information on underutilized cuts—an important feature as beef loving consumers trade down to more economical cuts to keep beef on the dinner table.

Canadian Beef Centre of Excellence Executive Director Mathieu Paré used top sirloin cap, a favourite economical cut, to create Grilled Steak Dippables, a Gateway recipe which won Alberta Beef Producer’s culinary competition at the Calgary Stampede Kitchen Theatre this year.

Beef demand in Canada has been strong since 2020 and was particularly resilient in 2024. As much as people love their beef, Canada Beef understands that consumers want assurances that it is also part of a healthy diet. To support this, Canada Beef established an Expert Advisory committee, comprised of recognized, independent health and nutrition experts who provide recommendations and guidance on diet and wellness communication initiatives.

Canada Beef’s Health and Nutrition team regularly consults with the committee on the wording and direction of educational resources aimed at consumers, as well as technical resources for health professionals and industry partners. The committee has reviewed various documents on topics ranging from nutrition during pregnancy to nutritional brochures for consumers like The Best of Beef.

The committee has also been convened to assist in the development of special interest white papers, like the one Canada Beef developed on the National School Food Policy and its Healthy Aging strategy.

Committee members are also consulted on a case-by-case basis, based on their nutrition specialty. For example, a regulatory expert reviews any advertising work that contains nutrition messaging, and a pediatric dietitian expert reviews any nutrition messaging related to children.

These are just some examples of the work underway at Canada Beef to maintain mindshare for beef as demand pressures continue.

This was first published in Volume 5 Issue 3 of ABP Magazine (Fall 2025). Watch for more digital content from the magazine on ABP Daily.