It’s time for a pop quiz
Which country was the largest Canadian wheat buyer in 1995-96?
China was biggest by far with 4.8 million tonnes of imports.
But who was number two?
The United States? Nope. It was Canada’s sixth biggest customer, right behind Iran.
Russia? No again. The former giant of grain imports bought nothing in 1996.
Japan? Yes, this important customer came second, importing 1.4 million tonnes.
The number three spot went to Brazil with 1.1 million tonnes. Indonesia, with purchases of almost 900,000 tonnes, came fourth.
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In fact, Asian Pacific Rim countries bought more than 60 percent of the grain Canada sold in 1995-96.
China and Japan have long been big customers, but until the last couple of years, Indonesia rarely bought more than 300,000 tonnes of Canadian wheat.
Last year, the Canadian Wheat Board and Indonesia’s Bogasari Flour Mills signed a long-term supply agreement for one to 1.5 million tonnes of wheat per year for the next five years.
Bogasari owns the world’s largest flour mill located in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, which has a population of more than 200 million.
Indonesia’s growing population is rapidly increasing its flour consumption. To keep up, Bogasari, which has a near monopoly on milling in the country, is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to expand its facilities.
I’m telling you this because this week federal agriculture minister Ralph Goodale started a 10-day business trade mission to Japan and Indonesia.
Canada sold $1.87 billion worth of agricultural products and foods to Japan in 1996. Indonesia bought $294 million, more than twice as much as the average in the previous three years.
With about 50 participants, it will be perhaps the largest such mission to travel to the Asia Pacific region.
The list of participants include representatives from the Canadian Wheat Board, Cargill Ltd., Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, dairy and chicken farmer groups, meat processors, cattle semen marketers and provincial governments.
And I can’t forget The Western Producer.
Yours truly will be tagging along, notepad, tape recorder, camera and computer in tow, to report on the mission’s activities and to catch the flavor of what the Japanese and Indonesians want to buy from Canadian farmers.
Let’s see now, Japan bought $14.4 million of Canadian frozen french fries and $5 million worth of bakery mixes in 1995, Indonesians shelled out $217,000 for canaryseed and $439,000 worth of ice cream…
