Canadian pork producers pleased with trade deals between Canada and Colombia

Jurgen Preugschas, president of the Canadian Pork Council which represents Canada's 9,000 hog producers said that the Canadian Pork Council applauds the Canadian government signing a free trade agreement with Colombia on Friday (Nov 21).

Colombia is currently Canada's 25th largest market for pork and pork products, accounting for $3 million of sales for slightly more than 2,000 tonnes over the first eight months of 2008. However, with the creation of a 5,000 tonne tariff-rate quota and the elimination of the in-quota tariff over 5 years, there is important potential for growth in Canadian pork exports to Colombia. The tariff-rate quota will increase annually and the in-quota tariff will be eliminated over the first 5 years of the agreement's implementation.

The CPC's support for the completion of the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations remains strong and unequivocal. However, the slower pace of the WTO negotiations has led many competitors such as the US and Chile to pursue bilateral and regional trade agreements.

The Canadian Pork Council furthermore is an avid supporter of current negotiations to liberalize trade with Korea and the Central American 4 (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua) countries. The CPC also encourages trade negotiations with Japan, India and the Dominican Republic.

The CPC compliments the efforts of Canada's trade negotiating officials and looks forward to working with the Government of Canada in the achieving the best possible results of this and other trade agreements for Canadian pork producers, and Canada's economy.