WINNIPEG – Canadian exporters have a tremendous opportunity to sell alfalfa and other forage products into the Middle East, said a Didsbury, Alta., forage producer.
Ed Shaw, who has been selling forage to customers in Abu Dhabi for 11 years, said the emirate will import 2.5 million tonnes of forage by 2025.
“This next year, they (Abu Dhabi) are going to import 1.2 million tonnes (of forage). To put that into perspective, that’s about 50 percent of the Japanese imports of forage products,” Shaw said at the first annual meeting of the Canadian Forage and Grassland Association in Winnipeg December 14-15.
“Of that, 200,000 tonnes is going to pellets and cubes for the high fibre market…. The rest will be 600,000 tonnes of alfalfa and 400,000 tonnes of grass hay.”
Several years ago, the government of Abu Dhabi, one of seven emirates that comprise the United Arab Emirates, decided to stop subsidizing forage production because growing alfalfa and Rhodes Grass was using too much water.
Earlier this year, Shaw led a group of producers and government forage experts on a trade development trip to Abu Dhabi to educate Canadians about the opportunities and challenges of doing business in the country.
“I’m also trying to bring (other) Canadians into it. Making people feel comfortable there,” said Shaw.
Canadians should learn that deals are not made overnight, Shaw said.
“If I’ve got a company across the street (in Canada), do I expect to make a sale on the first call? But when we travel overseas… we expect to get a sale the first call.”
