CPC Report Identifies Importance of Canada's Participation in TPP

The president of the Canadian Pork Council says, if there is a Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, Canada needs to be part of it.

The Canadian Pork Council has released a report outlining the potential impact participating in a Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement will have on Canada's pork industry.

The report, prepared by Kevin Grier of Kevin Grier Market Analysis and Consulting, examines the importance of pork exports to the Canadian economy, with a particular emphasis on exports to Japan.

Canadian Pork Council president Rick Bergmann says being part of this agreement with the 11 other countries involved in the negotiations could result in a rapid increase in exports to Japan and greater access to other export markets.

Rick Bergmann-Canadian Pork Council:
As far as Japan alone, in 2014 Canadian pork exported nearly a billion dollars worth of product to that country so it's currently a very significant customer for us.

It's a high end customer with the types of cuts that they do purchase from Canadian processors and meat traders and it's significant for us to be involved in it because these exports create over 46,000 jobs for farmers, processors, ag suppliers, and so on, and that's a huge output of approximately 11 billion dollars for Canada so it's big business and we want to be part of the TPP in gaining some of the benefits from it.

Bergmann warns, if Canada is not involved in this agreement, we could see those exports to Japan decline.

He notes previous experience, where other nations reached free trade agreements with South Korea resulting in declining exports to that market has shown the importance of these types of free trade agreements, and he doesn't want to see a repeat of that with nations involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Source: Farmscape