April 5, 2010

Canadian hog industry reaches reduction goal early

A strategy for restructuring Canada's pork industry released nearly a year ago called for reducing total national pork production to 25.5 million hogs by 2014 from 31 million in 2008, which may well be reached in 2010.

The main challenge for the country's pork industry will be retaining what the sector has at this point in time, according to Jurgen Preugschas, the head of the Canadian Pork Council (CPC).

Preugschas said one of the strategy's goals is to increase domestic consumption of Canadian-produced pork. Canada imports 200,000 tonnes annually, primarily from the US. The strategy aims to increase the country's annual consumption of domestic pork by 150,000 tonnes by 2014.

The council wants provincial associations to support the introduction of a national levy on pork imports to use for promotion and research in Canada. Preugschas said the idea comes from a similar levy the US imposes on the hogs and pork products it imports.

 "Canadian hog producers pay more for promotion and research in the United States than they do in Canada because of those levies," he said, noting the initiative would not mean a higher levy for Canadian producers.

CPC also wants to form a national promotional organization to generate greater consumer awareness of Canadian pork. Programmes such as the on-farm food safety Canadian Quality Assurance program and an animal care assessment tool to be developed in partnership with the National Farm animal Care Council would become key tools to help with promotion, at home and abroad.

Meanwhile, exports remain a main focus for the Canadian's long-term recovery strategy, with one million tonnes a year being the eventual goal.

The council is pushing the federal government to develop a trade agreement with the EU; it would also like to see a trade agreement reached with Korea.

Additionally, Preugschas suggested that producers consider the development of a national investment fund to help the industry remain sustainable that drew the toughest objections from some meeting delegates during the Ontario Pork annual meeting in London.