The Chair of Manitoba Pork says the signing of the Canada- European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement offers an opportunity for Canada’s pork producers to expand access to a market of over 500 million people.
Canada’s Prime Minister and top officials of the European Union signed the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement on Sunday.
George Matheson, the Chair of Manitoba Pork, says the European Union is the world’s largest importer of agriculture and agri-food products however Canada’s access to that market has been limited by trade barriers but this agreement provides for tariff free access for about 80,000 tonnes of pork per year, phased in over five years, so it holds a lot of promise.
We do export a lot of our pork product out of Manitoba, 90 percent in fact. Out of Canada it would be 60 percent. In Manitoba we export to close to 35 different countries world wide and we just plain and simply want the opportunity to access even a wider variety of markets.
The European Union has always been kind of the last frontier. We’ve never been able to access it significantly. The most recent statistic I have is 2011. I think we had 400 some odd tonnes exported to the European Union, so very little compared to exports to other countries around the world.
The European Union has 500 million inhabitants and they consume a lot of pork. Their total consumption is 30 times that of Canada so it would be a great opportunity for us.
~ George Matheson, Manitoba Pork
Matheson acknowledges we have to get past the European Union’s technical barriers, but he is hopeful the two governments will move forward quickly with ratification of the agreement and resolution of any remaining barriers that might stand in our way.
