Canada is on the cusp of announcing a trade deal with the European Union that has the dairy lobby crying foul and meat exporters crowing.
It offers $1 billion or more in new export access for hormone-free beef and pork products into the world’s largest consumer market.
It offers Europe more than 16,000 tonnes of new access for specialty cheese into Canada while preserving the basic principles of supply management — predictable import levels because of high tariffs, a limited but an increased volume on low-tariff imports and the ability of the system to continue to set production quotas, prices and import controls.
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The agreement-in-principle has been forwarded to provinces for their approval and to affected industry groups for comments.
Dairy industry comments were scathing.
“We’re shocked by the increased market access given to the European Union when it comes to cheese,” Dairy farmers of Canada president Wally Smith said Oct. 16 in an interview from an industry meeting in Saskatoon. “We find the deal unacceptable.”
He said European cheese that will compete with domestic artisan cheese will be subsidized and unfair competition. “Our concern is that when subsidized cheese enters our marketplace, it disadvantages the fine cheese and specialty cheese sector which are very high quality.”
Beef and pork exporters, on the other hand, were thrilled.
Canadian Cattlemen’s Association director of international relations John Masswohl said it could open the EU market to as much as $600 million in increased sales of hormone-free beef.
“Our hope is that the market signal will be there for producers to start producing those cattle,” he said Oct. 16. “The key will be to get packing plants approved to supply that market. We’re certainly not talking this year and probably not even 2014 but 2015 might be realistic.”
Canadian Pork Council executive director Martin Rice said Oct. 16 the potential for pork exports is $400 million annually.
The proposed deal would eliminate tariffs and reduce non-tariff barriers on the import of non-hormone treated meat. “This is a huge opportunity for our industry,” Rice said.
Canadian business lobbies including the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance applauded the potential for a deal and urged Ottawa to close it.
However, the prospect will be an issue as Parliament resumes Oct. 17.
NDP leader Thomas Mulcair, with most of his political base in dairy-rich Quebec, signaled on Oct. 16 that his party will be questioning dairy compromises in Parliament.
“I am very concerned that (prime minster) Stephen Harper will be throwing Canadian dairy farmers under the bus on this one,” he told reporters. “If he sells out Canadian dairy farmers having promised that he won’t fool around with Canada’s system that has protected dairy farmers for years, then there’s going to be a hell of a price to pay.”
