Alberta Beef is now available at your local Costco – in Mexico.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Heath MacDonald was on hand Wednesday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony in front of a cooler filled with Porterhouse, New York Prime and other cuts of Alberta beef at Costco in an upscale suburb just beyond the western edge of Mexico City.
“Days like today open the doors to the future and we will see it grow, without a doubt,” MacDonald said in an interview with CBC News after the event.
“The partnership is there, you can see it, you can smell it and you can feel it. »
The recent agreement between JBS Canada and Costco Mexico already sees approximately 20,000 tonnes of beef, processed in Brooks, Alberta, sent to 41 Costcos across Mexico.
Salvador Hernandez, director of JBS Mexico, said the deal with Costco gave Canadian beef a “new frontier” in a market dominated by U.S. beef.
“Today marks an important milestone, not only for JBS, but for the entire North American beef supply chain,” he said.
It took JBS Canada about a year to close the deal, which involved bringing Costco Mexico officials to tour the Brooks processing plant, according to Claudia Herrera-Blanc, senior director for Mexico and Latin America for industry group Canada Beef.
“Costco is the standard of quality in Mexico. We’ve been looking for this for a long time and Costco finally opened the doors,” Herrera-Blanc said.
Fresh, boneless beef is Canada’s fourth largest export to Mexico and is covered by the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
Canadian pet food ban lifted
The Alberta prime product joins other Canadian products on Costco Mexico shelves, including maple syrup, oatmeal, ice wine and chicken nuggets. A manager at the Costco store where the announcement took place said about US$60,000 (or CAN$84,000) worth of Canadian products were sold at the store each week.
Wednesday’s announcement was the second beef victory for Canadian producers since MacDonald arrived for a week of meetings in Mexico.
Following a meeting Tuesday between MacDonald and Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development Julio Berdegué Sacristán, the Mexican cabinet announced that his country would also lift its ban, in place for about 18 months, on imports of Canadian pet food made from beef meal.
“I told the minister that at any time we will accept the protocol to facilitate the importation of animal feed so that Mexican families can feed their small animals with very high quality Canadian food,” said Berdegué Sacristán.
Mexico does not produce enough pet food to meet domestic demand. Mexico imported approximately $402.7 million of pet food in 2024. Canada currently has a market share of about 0.5 percent domestically, according to data from Agriculture Canada.
MacDonald said discussions with his Mexican counterpart also included the introduction of digital phytosanitary certificates to avoid any hitches in the trade of organic products like wheat and canola.
“This could have major effects on how quickly we can trade,” he said.
Phytosanitary certificates are provided by the exporting country to the importing country to ensure that organic products are disease-free and meet the importing country’s regulations.
“People want to do business, build relationships and diversify,” MacDonald said.
MacDonald is in Mexico for a series of meetings, including a trip to the city of Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco, until Friday.
