Canadian pork exporters could soon face new competition from a familiar
adversary in some markets.
As a result of changes in its trade rules, the United States is
expected to aggressively pursue deals in countries where Canada has
enjoyed preferential access, says Martin Rice, executive director of
the Canadian Pork Council.
“They’re going to catch up with us on some of the bilateral access
where maybe we’ve had some advantage,” Rice said in an interview after
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Two such markets are Chile, where Canada has a free trade deal that
provides for a duty-free tariff rate quota, and Australia, which due to
animal health reasons, imports pork from only three countries,
including Canada but not the U.S.
The American trade rule changes give the U.S. president authority to
negotiate trade deals and then present them to Congress to accept or
reject as a complete package without making any amendments.
Previously, some countries were reluctant to make trade deals with the
U.S. knowing the treaty could be reopened by Congress.
Rice said that despite some “depressing” developments in the world
agricultural trade arena in recent months involving U.S. and European
Union agricultural spending, he remains optimistic about the prospects
for Canada’s pork exports.
“We’re in a position where we can probably still see our exports grow
as quickly as we can increase production,” he said.
Canada is the world’s second biggest pork exporter. Based on 2001
statistics, the EU is No. 1 with 35 percent of the market, followed by
Canada at 21 percent and the U.S. at 20 percent.
Michel Morriset, an agricultural economist from Laval University who
has studied the hog industry, said the biggest single issue facing the
industry involves the environment.
“I think it’s a major, major, major issue,” he said, especially in
Quebec and Ontario, and that could have implications for future
production patterns.
