August 15, 2014
Canada's producers to expand pork sales in other regions after Russian embargo
As Russia imposed a one-year embargo on food products from Western nations, Canada's Ontario Pork will currently look to China and Japan for future export potential.
Presently, Canadian pork producers are working to expand sales in markets where the country's pork is already established, said Oliver Haan, the vice-chair of Ontario Pork, who expressed disappointment over Russia's decision to cease imports of Canadian food products.
In addition, there are also efforts to promote Ontario pork in new markets, according to Haan.
"I'm very confident the pork will flow somewhere in the very near future," the Ontario-based pork producer said in an interview. "Japan and China are our number two and number three largest purchasers of pork. We know there's always been demand there, but there are a number of other countries ... where agreements are being worked out, so I am fairly confident we can find a new home for (Ontario pork)."
Russia is the fourth largest market for Canada's pork exports, with US$492 million worth of such products being shipped to the country in 2012 alone. However, the ongoing Ukraine-Russia territorial crisis had sparked off a reactionary exchange of sanctions between Russia and Western nations, including the US and EU states, thus having an adverse effect on Canada's pork trade.
Even then, Haan believed recent developments will not affect Ontario's hog producers as badly as their counterparts on the south of the border, where porcine epidemic diarrhea had ravaged herds at thousands of pig farms across 23 US states.