Farmscape for December 28, 2016

- The Chair of the Saskatchewan Pork Development Board says, with the future of Trans-Pacific Partnership in question, bilateral trade agreements involving Canada and Japan and other key trading partners in southeast Asia will be especially important for Canada's pork industry.
In October 2015 the 12 nations involved in negotiations aimed at creating a Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement announced an agreement in principal however the stand taken on trade by incoming U.S. President Donald Trump's Administration has raised uncertainty with regards to the future of that agreement.
Florian Possberg, the chair of the Saskatchewan Pork Development Board, notes the Canadian pork industry produces far more product than can be consumed domestically so our pork producers are especially dependant on exports.

Clip-Florian Possberg-Saskatchewan Pork Development Board:
In 2016, early in the year, we were pretty optimistic that the Trans-Pacific Partnership that the was tentatively signed would come into action and we would see freer access to, particularly the southeast Asian countries.
With the election in the U.S. that seems to be challenged.
But Canada is working on quite a number of bilateral agreements with key trading partners particularly Japan and also many of the other countries that are in that region.
If we can successfully negotiate trade agreements that are beneficial for our pork that will be huge for us.

Possberg notes, modest feed costs over the past couple of years have resulted in record amounts of poultry, pork and beef coming onto the market.
He says there will be more additional meat coming onto the market than our consumers can handle so export markets will be particularly important for all of our meat commodities to stay in a positive state in 2017.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork