Alberta beef entering Mexico’s Costco market where U.S. cuts once reigned

Alberta beef is now available at your local Costco — in Mexico.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Heath MacDonald was on hand for a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday in front of a cooler filled with porterhouse, New York prime and other cuts of Alberta beef at a Costco in an upscale suburb just beyond the western edge of Mexico City.

“Days like today open the doors for the future and we’ll just see this grow, without a doubt,” said MacDonald, in an interview with CBC News following the event.

“The partnership is there, you can see it, you can sense it and you can feel it.”

The recent agreement between JBS Canada and Costco Mexico is already seeing about 20,000 tonnes of beef, processed in Brooks, Alta., sent to 41 Costcos across Mexico.

Salvador Hernandez, director for JBS Mexico, said the Costco deal has provided Canadian beef a “new frontier” in a market dominated by U.S. beef.

“Today marks a significant milestone, not just for JBS, but the entire North American beef supply chain,” he said.

It took about a year for JBS Canada to land the deal, which involved bringing Costco Mexico officials to visit the processing plant in Brooks, accoring to Claudia Herrera-Blanc, senior director for Mexico and Latin America for the industry group Canada Beef.

“Costco is the standard of quality in Mexico. We had been looking for this for a long time and Costco finally opened the doors,” said Herrera-Blanc.

Fresh, boneless beef is Canada’s fourth-largest export to Mexico and is covered by the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

Alberta prime joins other Canadian products on Costco Mexico shelves, including maple syrup, rolled oats, ice wine and chicken nuggets. An official with the Costco store that was the site of the beef announcement said that about $60,000 US (or $84,000 Cdn) worth of Canadian products were sold each week at the store.

Wednesday’s announcement was the second beef-related win for Canadian producers since MacDonald landed 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 be lifting its roughly 18-month-long ban on imports of Canadian pet foods made with bovine meal.

“I told the minister that at any time, we will accept the protocol to facilitate the importation of pet food so Mexican families can feed their little animals with Canadian foods of very high quality,” said Berdegué Sacristán.

Mexico does not produce enough pet food to meet domestic demand. Mexico imported about $402.7 million worth of pet food in 2024. Canada currently has a market share of about 0.5 per cent in the country, according to Agriculture Canada data.

MacDonald said discussions with his Mexican counterpart also included introducing digital phytosanitary certificates to avoid any snags in the trade of organic products like wheat and canola.

“It 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 organic products are free of disease and meet the importing country’s regulations.

“People want to do business and they want to build relationships, they want to diversify,” said MacDonald.

MacDonald is in Mexico for a series of meetings, including a trip to the city of Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco, until Friday.