LONGUEUIL, Que. – Quebec pork producers look for their competitors globally, not within Canada.
“You have to realize your competition is not the packers,” said Gilbert Lavoie, an adviser with the Federation des Producteurs de Porcs du Quebec. Nor is it other provinces.
“It’s the Smithfields (a North Carolina packer that slaughters 25,000 hogs a day) or the Danes. You must work with your packers.”
The Quebec federation bases its marketing strategy on working together to gain a good price for farmers, secure supply for the packers and quality product for customers.
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All three elements are necessary, said Lavoie. Without good prices, farmers will produce fewer and poorer hogs. Without secure supplies the packers cannot take risks to develop new markets. Without good quality meat, the consumers won’t keep buying.
Lavoie said quality is easier to maintain under a collective system than a free market where individuals compete.
“It depends on what market you want (to serve).”
The Japanese don’t care about price, he said. They want quality and uniformity.
“For us, it’s important other provinces do well because when we sell abroad, we sell Canadian.”
Reputation in jeopardy
Lavoie is concerned about opening the Canadian border to live American hogs because of health concerns over the possibility of admitting pseudorabies and other disease. Canada’s hog reputation is good and he does not want it threatened.
He is also concerned when he sees provinces like Manitoba and Ontario exporting live hogs to the United States. It is a short-sighted strategy that sends jobs and value-added money out of the country, he said.
Quebec does not ship live hogs out. It prefers to keep the jobs within the province. But it does export pork – about $470 million worth annually, or the equivalent of 2.5 million hogs.
While 50 countries receive Quebec pork, the major markets are the United States, with half the total, and Japan, with 12 percent of the total volume but 22 percent of the total value.
