Canadian officials are in Mexico trying to end that country’s canaryseed import ban, but are not offering hope of an imminent solution.
Mexico’s zero tolerance policy for weed seeds in canaryseed shipments means that no new sales to Mexico, Canada’s biggest customer, are being made, and there is no indication yet what standard Canadian exporters will have to meet to resume trade if Mexico abandons its zero tolerance policy.
“Unfortunately, we have yet to have agreement as to what these measures will be,” said Carl Potts of the Canadian Special Crops Association as he travelled to Mexico for meetings Sept. 20-24.
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Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials have had ongoing discussions with Mexican officials about settling the dispute and industry players like those in the CSCA have been talking to their counterparts, but negotiations are at an early stage.
Old sales agreements were allowed to be completed until Sept. 17, when the 60-day notice period for Mexico’s ban ended. Now trade is suspended.
“CSCA will be meeting with Mexican plant protection officials to discuss issues such as why guaranteeing zero presence for weed seeds is not possible,” said Potts.
“We hope that a better understanding of what is workable for the trade will help Mexican plant protection officials resolve this issue with CFIA quickly. With zero tolerance in place, exporters have said that shipments to Mexico will be shut down.”
