Breaking Boundaries: Selling direct to international markets

Marketing agri-food products in Canada has many roads, though many are untravelled. Each year, international marketing continues to evolve, and while it may be challenging, it’s certainly not impossible. And it could be right for you.

Beef abroad

Russ Mallard, CEO of Atlantic Beef Producers in Prince Edward Island, says trade missions can open a world of possibilities to food processors. During his tenure as president of Canada Beef, he went on a trade mission to several Asian nations. While there, he saw a real opportunity for ABP to expand to new markets.

“I thought, if we can send fresh P.E.I. tuna to Asia, maybe we could sell beef,” he says.

In addition to their traditional markets of retail, food service and industrial, ABP now boasts a steady international clientele in South Korea and Japan, two countries Mallard describes as sophisticated in both taste and business.

This is where creativity and leveraging what you have come into play to not miss the moment, according to Mallard.

He knew the character Anne from the L. M. Montgomery novel, Anne of Green Gables, is well-known and popular in Japan. The fictional story is set in P.E.I., and Anne’s straw hat and red braided hair are iconic symbols of the book and the Island.

In 2024, when Mallard and his team went to Foodex in Japan, they brought an important prop for the trade show booth: a straw hat with artificial red braided hair, a visual representation of the storybook character. They marketed ABP as “Beef from the land of Anne.” The ABP booth was swarmed with people the entire show.

“Within a week or two, we had our arrangements to start shipping product in Japan,” he says. “We had pre-conversations in March and shipped our first container in May, which is almost unheard of.”

Today, they send a steady shipments across the Pacific - and it’s not just sirloin and ribeye. Thinly sliced beef tongue is a staple, among other products, in Japan and South Korea.

Mallard says it’s important to give people what they want.

“We just need to get out of our own way for trying new products sometimes because they're worth more there than here,” he points out.

Be prepared

Anyone serious about doing business in a new market should conduct a thorough assessment of their export readiness. Failing to do that could be costly for your business. He also says be prepared to travel. Face time is important with buyers in most, if not all, countries. In his case, it’s hugely important for his buyers in South Korea and Japan. They now regularly host delegations from other countries, which serves as a constant reminder always to be prepared.

Mallard also encourages owners to get involved in commodity groups, chambers of commerce, or business development organizations. These groups often conduct trade missions abroad, providing opportunities for subsidized travel and exploratory market development work.

New markets at home

Sometimes, new markets are closer than we may realize. In 2016, ABP began to go down the road of halal certification. Atlantic Canada has some of Canada’s fastest-growing cities and towns, and the company can now say it serves an additional one million customers who were eager to buy halal meats between Ontario and the Atlantic Provinces.

“Not only did we have a small local opportunity, once we started talking about halal, we started to talk to various customers and found out that there are people who want donair products and beef bacon products,” he says. “We made the conscious decision to understand what we needed to do to become halal certified, and we did.”

ABP also responded to new demand for other products from other international groups. Beef aorta is served and regularly purchased, as are beef feet, the latter of which is typically viewed as a waste product by traditional markets. However, the Jamaican community prefers them, so ABP is now sourcing equipment to process the feet and sell them to consumers.

Mallard says that overall, relationships are built on trust, and that’s what will sustain them in the long term.

“If you have a good reputation and you have a good trusting, working relationship with people, then you're more likely to be a supplier to them,” he says. "If it was just based on price, well, you're only as good as your last price.”

Homegrown transformation

Canada is well-known for sending raw commodities all over the globe, but that doesn’t sit well with Murad Al-Katib. He says it shouldn’t sit well with producers, either. The president and CEO of AGT Foods and Ingredients in Regina, Sask., has steadily built a pulse-based processing empire with the specific purpose of positioning Canada at the forefront when it comes to this trendy foodstuff. What began with 100,000 tonnes of lentil processing capacity has now expanded to two million tonnes.

“We successfully worked to convince people that this crop was not only agronomically viable, but they could earn a big return instead of using summerfallow,” he says.

Al-Katib saw potential in the Middle East and India, where shifting consumer preferences are driving demand for plant-based proteins.

Where he sees new-school marketing opportunities for producers is through the Internet of Things, providing a “double pay” via the capture of agronomic data and then supplying it — along with the commodity — to processors, which continue to emerge nationwide.

“Data, sensors and analytics will have a direct payback on profit per acre,” he says. “In addition, that data, when collected, can be put into an identity-preserved, traceable, blockchain-certified food system. Growers will benefit in the long term.”

He says the ones who will capitalize and profit from this are well-educated entrepreneurs who see the data as an opportunity, not a threat or something scary. “Large farms with aspirations to become more participatory in this new economy are moving to technology and innovation to help them get there,” he says.

Al-Katib also notes there are huge opportunities for youth, women and Indigenous people.

“They’re entrepreneurs, financially capable and savvy, demanding more; they want to be part of the growth, they don’t want to be a passenger. If you’re not part of it, you’ll get left behind,” he says.

From an AgriSuccess article by Trevor Bacque.