Soy Canada Rallies Heightened Interest in Canadian Soybeans During Ministerial Trade Mission to China
Beijing, CHN – Top-notch quality and record high supply were two of the many key messages Soy Canada repeated in China over the past ten days as the Association wrapped up participation in a productive trade mission led by the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.
“What we’ve heard is that Canada is reliable and maintains a very positive reputation for supplying high quality soybeans to China,” said vice-Chair of Soy Canada Ernie Sirski. “Chinese importers and manufactures have expressed a profound interest in importing Canadian soybeans to help meet this year’s demand of over 95 million tonnes.”
During the trade mission, Soy Canada participated in Export Cafés in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing, and promoted Canadian soybeans at the annual Food and Hospitality Show in Shanghai. In addition, meetings were held with the Guangdong Imported Food Association and China’s largest retail outlet Resources Vanguard/Ole Supermarket.
“Our discussions with these key stakeholders involved exploring ways to overcome market access barriers, including the removal of China’s zero-tolerance policy for the import of food-grade soybeans and expediting the country’s biotechnology approval processes to ensure Canadian growers have quick access to the latest crop technology,” said Jim Millington, Soy Canada’s Director of Market Development. “These obstacles reinforce the need for the Government of Canada to quickly pursue a free trade agreement between our countries in order to provide a formal framework for addressing these issues.”
China is the largest export market for the Canadian soybean sector. In 2016, approximately 1.8 million tonnes, or 37 percent, of Canada’s food-grade and commodity soybean exports were shipped to the region at an export value of nearly $1 billion.
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For more information contact:
Ron Davidson
Executive Director
rdavidson@soycanada.ca
613-233-0500