Reports that China’s ban on Canadian canola imports have expanded to include flax, wheat, peas and barley are false, according to the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance.
“It’s really important that growers understand it’s only affecting canola seed,” said CAFTA president Brian Innes.
Canola oil and meal are also excluded from the ban.
Earlier this month China suspended the canola export license for Richardson International, saying it was concerned about shipments being contaminated with pests, including several weeds and diseases.
The ban has since been expanded to include all canola seed exports. There has been no official explanation why it was broadened.
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“It is really unclear why Chinese buyers are not interested in Canadian canola seed. There has been no indication that that is caused by anything in particular,” said Innes, who is also vice-president of public affairs with the Canola Council of Canada.
Blackleg is one of the pests of concern with respect to the Richardson shipments, which Innes said is perplexing because leaders of the two countries signed a blackleg memorandum of understanding in 2016 paving the way for the uninterrupted flow of canola to China through 2020.
Canada has a detailed action plan in place to prevent the spread of the disease and just recently updated Chinese officials with a 2018 blackleg progress report.
Innes said it is up to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to hash out a science-based technical solution to China’s concerns, but that could take a while.
“There are large gaps in interpretation between technical officials from Canada and China,” he said.
