Farm-Scape, Episode 2070

The Canadian Pork Council suggests, in the face of stable North American consumption, it's important for the Canadian pork industry to continue its focus on sales opportunities in non-NAFTA countries.

Last year Canadian pork set new records in terms of both the volume and value of its exports.

While exports to the United States, Canada's largest export market, declined sales to other key markets, most notably Japan and South Korea increased dramatically.

Canadian Pork Council President Clare Schlegel suggests, with demand in Canada and the US holding stable, we'll definitely need to see sales continue to rise it in countries beyond North America.

"To succeed it's really important that we increase our activity in non-NAFTA countries. Support, we need a successful WTO round from a Canadian perspective.

Market access is absolutely critical and the lowering of tariffs into some of these countries. We know that some of our competitors are working very diligently on free trade agreements, bilaterals between two countries.

The example there would be both the United States and Chile and they would get preferential access over Canadian product. That would be a problem for us. Thirdly, from the Canadian government, we need continued support, from the embassies abroad, trade promotion programs.

We need to increase the desirability and presence of the Canadian image, particularly in markets around the world where we're selling through to retail. There's some exciting possibilities there particularly in Korea and maybe even in Mexico where we can increase our sales opportunity by increasing the Canadian brand and the Canadian presence."

Schlegel says last year's strong performance is a clear indication that we're putting out a desirable product from a consistency and taste perspective and suggests the industry should be congratulated on its achievements.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.