The Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture estimates Canada's participation in the Comprehensive Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership will result in billions of dollars in increased Canadian agricultural exports.
On Tuesday the 11 nations participating in negotiations aimed at creating a Trans-Pacific free trade agreement announced a deal had been struck and will be officially signed in early March.
James Kettel. the Executive Director of the Trade and Value Added Branch of the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, says the deal represents a tremendous opportunity for Canada and for Saskatchewan especially.
James Kettel-Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture:
Saskatchewan has a plan for growth where we're trying to grow our exports but also trying to grow our value added sector.
Japan especially is a big market for canola seed currently.
They have a situation called tariff escalation where they let seed in duty free but then they have higher tariffs on the more processed product.
Those tariffs on canola oil will be eliminated over five years and we see that as a huge opportunity..
I believe the Canola Council of Canada has estimated that it could mean 780 million dollars over five years of canola oil and meal.
Beef and Pork, it's my understanding the Canadian Meat Council has looked at this and they've estimated that it could lead to an increase of beef and pork exports, especially in markets like Japan of up to 500 million dollars annually.
For Saskatchewan we don't have a beef kill facility and our pork facility is fairly small but we do have a fairly large cattle sector, the second biggest beef herd and the Japanese market in particular is a high valued market and any price gains there will hopefully be passed on back to our producers.
Source : Farmscape