The minister will tour processing facilities and meet with stakeholders about Canadian ag
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Canada’s federal minister of agriculture is in the Philippines for a trade mission.
Marie-Claude Bibeau left Canada Friday for a multi-day trip that sees her meet with Filipino government officials and stakeholders from different agriculture and food industries and organizations.
Specific stops during her trip include a Tim Horton’s in Manila and touring the Philippine Foremost Milling Corporation, which uses Canadian wheat.
“Canada’s wheat quality is well known in Philippines! Today, I visited the Philippines Foremost Milling Corp. – one of the largest flour milling companies in the (country) that buys and uses (Canadian) wheat for flour production,” Bibeau posted on Twitter Monday.
In 2021, Canada exported $1.3 billion of goods to the Philippines, up from $899.4 million in 2020.
Canadian ag accounted for $390 million, or about 30 per cent, of total exports.
Top Canadian exports include meat and cereals.
“Increased exports of meat and wood played a key factor in the increase in total merchandise exports in 2021,” a Government of Canada fact sheet says.
The two countries are also negotiating free trade in the Canada-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) agreement.
Early in 2022, the Philippines lifted a temporary ban on Canadian beef.
Multiple countries placed bans on Canadian beef after a case of atypical BSE was found on an Alberta farm in December 2021.
As of 2019, the Philippines is Canada’s sixth largest market for pork, the Canadian Pork Council says.
That year, Canada exported $117 million of pork to the Philippines.