Despite closed borders, trade restrictions and countervail duties, Canada’s food sector is posting a strong trade year and a balance of payments surplus up almost 50 percent from last year, according to Statistics Canada.
To the end of August, Canada exported $21.2 billion worth of live animals and processed food. That’s half a billion more than in 2002 when live cattle trade to the United States was still under way, and $2 billion more than last year.
Meanwhile, the value of food imports so far this year has fallen compared to last year, giving the sector a $7 billion trade surplus to the end of August, almost 15 percent of Canada’s overall merchandise trade surplus.
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Daryl Keen, an analyst with Statistics Canada’s international trade division, said the rebound in the sale of prairie wheat and barley are major drivers of this year’s trade increase.
“After two years of drought, there was crop to sell this year and it shows in the numbers,” he said.
Wheat sales in August, mainly to Japan and China, grew 26 percent to $418 million, while the value of barley sales more than tripled.
Meat exports were strong despite the BSE border closing that took $1 billion out of the value of live animal sales compared to 2002, the last pre-BSE year.
Keen said the value of fresh and chilled beef sales was $1.2 billion during the first eight months of the year, almost back to pre-BSE levels.
The value of swine exports increased more than 30 percent to $452 million to the end of August 2004.
Partly in reaction to those increased imports, American hog producers have complained and convinced their government to impose anti-dumping duties.
Keen said hog and pork sales increases are directly related to closed beef borders.
“Almost automatically, when countries won’t buy Canadian beef, they start buying our pork,” he said.
“This is true in Asia as well as closer to home.”
