OTTAWA – Canada’s meat processing industry welcomes and strongly supports Canadian participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations. The earnestly awaited announcement was made by Prime Minister Harper coincident with his attendance at the G-20 Leaders` Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico.
“Of the eleven other countries that have joined or are prospective members of the TPP negotiations, ten are already destinations for Canadian meat products. It is vitally important for Canada`s export-dependent livestock and meat sector that this country maintain competitive access to these critical markets” stated Canadian Meat Council Executive Director James Laws. During 2011, Canadian pork, beef and horsemeat exports to these countries were as follow: Australia ($99 million); Chile ($9 million); Japan ($976 million); Malaysia ($1 million); Mexico ($210 million); New Zealand ($27 million); Peru ($0.3 million); Singapore ($7 million); United States ($1,956 million); and Vietnam ($7 million).
“In the absence of Canadian membership in these critical negotiations, Canadian meat exports would have become progressively disadvantaged in the dynamic and growing trans-Pacific marketplace. The ultimate result would have been reduced competitiveness, lower investment and lost jobs in not only all segments of Canada`s highly integrated livestock and meat chain from cow-calf producers to feedlot operators, meat processors, truck and rail transporters and port operators, but also within the many companies that provide inputs to each link of the chain. It is for these reasons that Canada`s meat processors have been urging the Canadian government to join the ambitious TPP negotiations at the earliest possible opportunity“ added Laws.
Canada currently provides tariff-free unlimited access to pork and horsemeat imports from all countries of the world. Beef and veal products are imported duty-free from existing free trade partners the United States, Mexico and Chile. Beef and veal imports from other countries that exceed a tariff-rate quota of 76,409 tonnes are subject to an import duty of 26.5%. The Canadian beef industry is prepared to offer open and tariff-free access to the Canadian market in exchange for similar concessions from the other TPP member countries.
Canada’s meat processing industry includes some 400 federally registered establishments, providing not only safe, high quality protein for Canadian consumers, but also adding jobs and making a significant contribution to local economic activity in both rural and urban Canada. With some 67,500 employees and annual sales exceeding $ 21.3 billion, the industry is the largest segment of Canada’s food processing sector. Canada exports some $1.3 billion of beef and over $3.2 billion of pork to over 120 different countries around the world. The Canadian Meat Council has been representing Canada’s federally inspected meat processing industry since 1919.
Source: Canadian Meat Council