It’s a familiar refrain: a growing global middle class will provide a potential boon to Canadian agriculture and industry.
And Murad Al-Katib, CEO of AGT Food and Ingredients, a major buyer and processor of pulse crops, expects Western Canada to be in the game as major agricultural exporters and food companies look to capitalize on a middle class population expected to tally 4.9 billion by 2030.
“We need to be in the markets on a regular basis. We can’t be in today and gone tomorrow. It’s a race and I always say it’s not a sprint. It’s a long distance race,” Al-Katib told The Western Producer.
Read Also
Key actions identified to address canola tariffs
Federal and Saskatchewan governments discuss next steps with industry on Chinese tariffs
“… If I look at Saskatchewan and really the Western Canadian presence, we have been present in China. We have been present in India. We’ve had emerging markets as a focus in our province for a long time and it’s going to pay dividends.”
But Murad Al-Katib also wonders if the agriculture sector is positioning itself to take full advantage of opportunities in those burgeoning markets other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
“I’d like to kind of talk about what I see as a bit of slippery slope and a dangerous trend in the ag sector here,” Al-Katib told the recent Feeding the Global Middle Class conference held in Saskatoon.
“We’re focusing a lot on more production. We’re focusing more and more on moving our products to market, but we should be looking at what our market position is. Do we want to be a low-cost, fair-average quality supplier of the world or do we actually want to recognize that with this growing middle class there is a growing opportunity for higher quality, differentiated products?”
Al-Katib was part of a group of industry and government officials assembled to spitball ideas at the conference about maximizing market opportunities.
Logistics and transportation was one obstacle identified, but products must arrive in a market with bodies. Regular visits are key to business relationships in Asia, said officials. Then there are issues setting Canadian products apart.
In a country like Japan, Australia has become synonymous with beef and New Zealand with butter. While Canada is the king of canola, it isn’t branded as such.
Officials said efforts should focus on promoting Canada’s reliable food safety system and its production efficiency, growing a wide variety of crops with a reduced environmental footprint compared to other products.
The sector must also anticipate demands from consumers and regulators.
“One of my concerns is that as we go more towards bulk grain handling systems and we go more towards fair, average qualities, we’re actually not going to be positioned to react to things like traceability being a re-quirement to be in the game,” Al-Katib told attendees. “So I’m concerned about our sector.”
Traceability was presented as no short-term trend. As millenials enter the “consumer mainstream,” more buyers will be asking where their food comes, said Al-Katib.
Chad Fleck, president of Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership agreed.
“I think there are consumers everywhere that are interested in where their food comes from …” said Fleck.
“Is there an opportunity for us as a country to get really serious and put some critical thinking around being the first movers in that space when it comes to traceability and whether we can command even a small margin in the marketplace and be less of price taker and more of a price setter be-cause we differentiated on that basis?” said Fleck.
Simon Tucker, New Zealand High Commissioner to Canada, said his country received some pushback from farmers on a meat traceability system introduced in his country.
“In the future, I think don’t these issues are going to be about getting a premium, they’re going to be about being able to play at all in the market,” Tucker told the conference.
“That ability to provide quick assurance to regulators in countries to which you’re selling your products is what will keep the market open or reopen it quickly.”
