Among the thousands of Canadians spending time in Mexico last week were 246 with more on their minds than sun and fun.
That’s how many Canadians made the trek to Puerto Vallarta for the annual convention of the Canola Council of Canada.
And while some of them are undoubtedly sporting suntans this week, council officials say they didn’t head south just to escape the snow.
The trip provided an opportunity to do some promotion in what has become Canada’s second most important export market for canola, said council president Dale Adolphe.
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“Mexico is a very major destination for canola seed exports, and this was designed to be a recognition of that market,” he said after returning to Winnipeg.
He said the idea was to meet that country’s major oilseed processors, discover their needs and tell them what canola has to offer.
Normal sales
Mexico ranks second only to Japan among overseas buyers of Canadian canola, buying an average of 440,000 tonnes annually over the last five years, including a record 593,000 tonnes in 1997-98. Sales to Mexico are worth $200 to $300 million a year.
Adolphe said Mexican buyers wanted assurances about security and stability of supplies and price.
The Canadians were told by a speaker from Mexico’s National Institute of Nutrition that if competing vegetable oils want to carve out a share of the Latin country’s market, they’ll have to do it on the basis of price rather than selling the nutritional quality.
Canadian canola accounts for about 25 percent of the vegetable oil market in Mexico.
Soybean is number one, based on its high meal and protein content. Mexico also imports some sunflowerseed oil and, when the price is right, European canola oil.
Adolphe said there is the potential for canola to increase its market share. That would likely come at the expense of sunflowers, based on the superior protein and energy levels of canola meal.
