Pork exporters get hot under the collar in Canada

The Canadian Pork Council says, with the slow progress in multilateral trade talks at the World Trade Organization, the establishment of individual bilateral trade agreements is crucial to the success of Canada's pork industry.

With about 70 percent of its product sold on the export market, the Canadian pork industry is particularly dependent on trade.

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada is evaluating interest in initiating negotiations aimed at establishing a bilateral free trade agreement with Ukraine.

Canadian Pork Council foreign trade committee chair Florian Possberg says pork producers in the United States and Canada receive less for their hogs than those in other nations, such as Europe, Japan and China because those markets have trade impediments.