Canada’s minister of agriculture and agri-food Lawrence MacAulay will meet with leading Chinese businesses during a week-long visit to help grow exports, as well as China’s minister of agriculture and rural affairs Han Changfu, to negotiate the expansion market access for its pork and beef.
The visit coincides with the Canadian Government’s goal, which is to grow global agriculture and food exports to $75 billion by 2025.
MacAulay pointed to the potential benefits of a trading relationship with China.
"With a population of 1.4 billion people, and a growing appetite for high-quality Canadian food products, the Chinese market offers significant opportunities for Canadian agricultural producers and processors,” said MacAulay.
“I look forward to taking part in agri-business events in China to promote Canada's top-quality agricultural and food products, and to meet with my Chinese counterpart to build on our shared history of collaboration and strengthen our mutually beneficial trade relationship.”
China has been at the centre of trade deals over the past 12 months, forging deals with international markets such as Ireland for its beef and reopening markets in Thailand.
However, the Chinese have been at loggerheads with the US after imposing a retaliatory 25% duty on products such as pork, sold in mainland China, following the USA’s imposition of 25% and 10% duties on imported steel and aluminium.
According to GlobalMeatNews’ State of the Industry report, Canada is the eighth-largest global meat exporter at $5 billion and set a volume record for pork in 2017. Pork export growth was driven by demand from Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Taiwan, Chile and New Zealand.