Two Canadian producer groups have joined forces with the United States barley industry to bring an end to the Canadian Wheat Board’s export monopoly on barley.
The Alberta Barley Commission and the Western Barley Growers Association are among the members of a coalition of barley industry organizations campaigning for an end to all subsidies, tariffs or government intervention in world barley trade.
The coalition’s proposal would include stripping the monopoly powers from state trading enterprises, including exporters such as the CWB and importers like the Japan Food Agency in the next round of World Trade Organization negotiations.
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“It’s pretty naive, and a pretty empty argument, to say that STEs do not have trade-distorting effects,” said Clifton Foster, general manager of the Alberta Barley Commission.
The reason such organizations have a monopoly in the first place is to gain some benefit or advantage in the marketplace, so by definition they must distort trade, he said.
Even staunch supporters of the board should realize that the gains from getting rid of all export subsidies and tariffs would far outweigh anything that’s lost by losing the CWB monopoly, he said.
“If we have the opportunity to accomplish zero-for-zero and a distortion-free trade environment, and all we have to do is give up the monopoly powers of the STEs, then it’s a small price to pay.”
Foster added that the coalition’s proposal applies only to barley and barley products.
“We’re not advocating this for wheat,” he said. “This is a barley coalition.”
The two Canadian barley groups are members of the International Barley and Malt Coalition for Free Trade, which has its genesis in a meeting of Canadian and U.S. farm organizations last year in Banff, Alta.
Others in the 14-member coalition include the Malt Industry Association of Canada, Dominion Malting Co., Cargill and ConAgra, Coors Brewing Co., the U.S. Grains Council, the U.S. National Barley Growers Association.
Discussions are under way to bring Australian barley industry groups into the fold, along with representatives from other Cairns groups countries.
The barley commission made its pitch for a complete liberalization of world barley trade, known as the “zero-for-zero” option, to the House of Commons standing committee on foreign affairs and international trade during the committee’s recent tour of western Canada.
In its brief, the commission said all major barley producer and malting organizations in Canada support such an approach.
“Therefore, the zero-for-zero objective for trade in barley and barley products must be included in Canada’s negotiating mandate for future trade discussions and must be included in any final agreement,” it said.
The coalition’s proposal calls for:
- Improving market access, through complete elimination of import tariffs, quotas and licenses, ensuring that phyto-sanitary restrictions are based on sound science and removing the monopoly powers of barley and malt importing agencies.
- Eliminating export subsidies (which have been as high as $139 a tonne for European farmers), prohibiting export taxes on barley and malt and removing the monopoly powers of state exporting agencies.
- Ensuring that domestic support programs are decoupled from production and trade decisions.
