Canadian pork producers are cashing in on export opportunities to China, more than trebling their sales to the country in the first nine months of 2016, according to AHDB Pork.
As a result, China overtook the United States as Canada’s leading export outlet for pork, in volume terms, at least, in the second quarter of the year. In addition, Canada is now the world’s third largest pork exporter.
Canada’s trading boost has been helped by a fall in the value of the Canadian dollar against its US equivalent, meaning that while unit prices were 3% higher in Canadian dollar terms, they were 2% lower in the US currency. The net result was that the country’s exports, in value terms, increased by 12% over the nine-month-period, in comparison to 2015.
“Canada has recently signed a trade agreement with the EU, of course, which will give it access to an increased tariff-free import quota for pork,” added AHDB Pork. “However, the country’s latest data shows that the EU is not currently a significant market for Canadian pork, so it is unclear how quickly shipments will grow.
“In the first nine months of this year, in fact, less than 1,000 tonnes of pork was shipped from Canada to the EU, a reduction compared with the same period in the previous two years. On the other hand, imports of EU pork into Canada were higher, rising by 55% to 14,100 tonnes.”