Larry Hill says the Canadian Wheat Board would support a new world trade deal that benefits wheat and barley growers.
However, he said the deal on the table doesn’t do that.
“Our analysis says there isn’t a lot to be gained by wheat and barley farmers in terms of market access or tariff reduction,” said the CWB chair.
Hill was responding to a comment by federal agriculture and CWB minister Gerry Ritz criticizing the board’s views on the World Trade Organization negotiations.
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The minister said recently the CWB should be more supportive of achieving a new trade deal, which is crucial to getting out of the current global economic instability.
“We’ll keep pushing at the WTO to get the best possible deal for all Canadian farmers,” Ritz said.
Hill rejected the minister’s criticism of the board’s position. He said the board’s analysis indicates that the tariffs on wheat and barley proposed in the agreement are higher than what the board now pays, so the proposed new tariff rates provide no benefits.
For example, in Sri Lanka, the maximum rate on wheat is 50 percent. Under the proposed changes, that would be reduced to 31 percent. The board currently pays 4.3 percent.
The maximum rate on durum to Venezuela is 118 percent.
The proposed new rate is 68 percent. The current applied rate is 15 percent.
Finally, the current maximum rate on designated barley into Japan is 256 percent.
The new rate would be 77 percent. The current applied rate is zero.
The WTO agreement as written would not improve market access for wheat and barley producers in Canada, says the board’s analysis.
Hill said that given the additional costs that will be faced by producers as a result of losing government financial guarantees for the CWB under the deal, producers should get something “significant” in return and that isn’t the case in the current text.
