Canada is currently in the process of completing two key trade agreements, the 12 nation Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the EU.
Ron Davidson, the Director of International Trade, Government and Media Relations with the Canadian Meat Council, said during a recent FarmScape Online interview that these two deals offer tremendous opportunities for agriculture.
"In the case of TPP, it involves 11 other countries, some of who we already have trade agreements with but others that we don't," Davidson said during his interview. "For example we do not have free trade agreements with Japan which is a major market for over a billion dollars of Canadian meat, most of which is pork, every year."
He also pointed out that at this time, Canada does not have trade agreements at this time with countries like Vietnam or Malaysia.
"From that perspective it is very important for us to move forward with the TPP and see that agreement implemented," he added. "It will not only improve our access into those other countries that we don't have trade agreements with but it will help us to catch up to countries such as Australia that already has an agreement with Japan."
He suggested that such deals would give Canada priority access to those markets over countries that don't have current access to Japan such as the European Union.
"In the case of CETA we're talking about tariff free import quotas for 81,000 tonnes carcass weight of pork, for 65,000 tonnes of beef, for 3,000 tones of bison, so very significant," he said.
Davidson says we require access to all of the markets out there so we can maximize the value of every carcass by finding the best market in the world that will pay the most for each carcass.
Source: Meatbusiness