Canada’s deer and elk producers brought their political lobby to Parliament Hill last week and got at least some of what they wanted – a promise of help from the federal government to try to pry the South Korean market open again for their products.
Dennis Schmidt, secretary treasurer of the Ontario Elk Breeders Association, told the House of Commons agriculture committee Oct. 4 that the government has agreed to help fund a trade mission to Korea later this year.
“Opening the border is the most important thing that can happen,” he told MPs. “Without help from the government, I can see it taking three years as a worst case scenario.”
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Korea buys 70 percent of Canada’s exports of antler velvet and it closed the border after cases of chronic wasting disease were confirmed in Saskatchewan in 1996, 1998 and 2000.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has killed as many as 6,300 potentially exposed animals to try to eradicate the disease. The industry has established a tracing system.
And barring further outbreaks, the problem should be solved by the end of the year, according to the industry.
“We are leaps and bounds ahead of the United States,” said Schmidt. “They have no traceability system.”
Canadian Alliance MPs Carol Skelton from Saskatchewan and Rob Merrifield from Alberta, both elk producers, insisted that Canada’s health regulations and controls are the toughest in the world.
Still, Korea is under pressure from its own industry to keep the border closed to Canadian product.
Manitoba Conservative Rick Borotsik said it was nothing less than “a non-tariff trade barrier” hiding behind an alleged health concern.
Schmidt said the effect of officially losing the Korean market is that the price of antler velvet, used in the Orient as a medicine, has dropped to to $20-$30 per pound fronm $65-$70 per lb.
He said the irony is that Canada’s industry, concentrated in Saskatchewan and Alberta but including 2,500 farms across the country with as many as 110,000 animals, still is exporting all its product. And most of it still goes to Korea, although at bargain basement prices.
He said much of it now is sold to China, where it is mixed with Chinese antler velvet, called Chinese velvet,and sold to Korea.
Schmidt said the industry is growing as part of the agricultural diversification movement and is trying to increase its domestic market for meat and velvet products. The government is helping to pay for promotional brochures.
Coverage of the CWD issue in the media has “hurt our industry” but it soon will be over, he said.
Last week, it proved in Ottawa that it has substantial political support.
On Oct. 2, the elk industry organized a Parliament Hill reception that attracted many MPs as well as agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief and trade minister Pierre Pettigrew, both of whom promised support and help.
