Jason Wood, provincial livestock market analyst with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, updates the numbers for January to September 2020.
Wood says substantial gains have been made in exports, particularly to both China and Vietnam. Pork exports for the January to September period are 18.2% by volume and 20.9% by value higher than in 2019. Year-to-date pork exports are $3.75 billion (1.1 million tonnes).
On a volume basis, substantial gains have been made into China and Vietnam. China has imported 481,914 tonnes of pork, up 119% from last year. For Vietnam, exports are up 461% at 20,251 tonnes.
Image 1. Monthly Canadian pork exports, October 2018 to September 2020
Wood notes that pork exports to China have increased rapidly following the temporary import suspension that was placed on Canadian pork exports in July 2019. He adds 3 Canadian exporters remain temporarily suspended on exporting pork to China following the issuance of incorrect export certificates.
Since that time, China has placed temporary export suspensions on an additional 7 pork exporters related to COVID-19 reports at their facilities.
Currently, about 65% of the pork processing capacity in Canada is ineligible to export to China due to temporary export suspensions. In total, 10 pork plants and one beef plant are currently not eligible to export to China.
'Globally,’ says Wood, ‘a plant delisting due to a COVID-19 related event takes about 6 to 8 weeks to resolve with China. However, some plants in Canada have passed that milestone with no indication of when the export suspension may be lifted.’
Wood says with about two-thirds of Canadian pork processing capacity under a temporary import suspension, pork exports to China will likely decline in the short-term.
Source : alberta.ca