Japan is one of the highest value markets for Canadian pork.

 

 

The federal government has announced the launch of a joint study with Japan on the potential benefits of a free trade agreement.

"This has a lot of potential for farmers," says Richard Phillips, Executive Director of the Grain Growers of Canada. "Japan is a market that will pay a premium price above most other markets in the world to get the quality they want. With our system in Canada and our ability to segregate various grains by grades we are very well-positioned to provide the Japanese exactly the specifications they're looking at."

Japan's economy is one of the largest three in the world. The Japanese government is looking to liberalize its trade to stimulate its own economy.

The country is already a significant buyer of agricultural products from Canada.

"We do a tremendous amount of canola, wheat, malt barley business with them, also pork and beef, but the reality is that other countries are also interested in starting trade talks with Japan," he says. He says it's important that Canadian farmers are not left at a tariff disadvantage as is now the case with Morocco. "It's critical that as an export-dependent nation that we be one of the first people in to the key markets negotiating our trade agreements."

There are a number of sensitive issues that will need to be resolved before a deal can be reached.

"They are very defensive in terms of protecting their agricultural producers. The good news is that a lot of what they produce and what's really sensitive is not crops that we would be exporting to them, for example their vegetable growers and their rice growers," says Phillips. "They of course will want to export industrial goods and probably automobiles direct from Japan, and that will be sensitive for our auto sector."

~ Tuesday, March 1, 2011 ~