Over the past 18 months Canadian pork producers have been devastated by a combination of low hog prices, high input costs, the negative impact of a rising Canadian dollar and trade issues.

Canada Pork International director Florian Possberg told those on hand for Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2008, supplies had been declining, US exports and, to a lesser extent, Canadian exports were strong and prices were improving when the financial melt down hit affecting export sales.

Florian Possberg-Canada Pork International

How that affects our business is, places like Russia, for example; we don't sell there directly as producers.

We produce product.

Processors here often go through brokers, brokers go through brokers in Russia, brokers in Russia go to work through wholesalers to retailers.

When the credit disappeared there was no money in the system to fund their inventory as it was moving.

The fundamental need for that pork didn't change.

The ability to finance and make it happen did change and rather dramatically.

And so our hope now is that the world financial situation sorts itself out as quickly as possible so we can get back to some normality in our market place.

Possberg is convinced Canada's ability to supply meat around the world will get even stronger.

He stresses the fundamentals, that had been cause for so much optimism three to five years ago, including western Canada's open spaces, abundant feed grain supplies, infrastructure in place including roads and the established banking system, have not changed.