Canada Looking for New Canola Customers as Tensions with China Continue
Canada is seeking out new Asian canola customers after China has taken steps to ban many shipments from more than one Canadian grain trader claiming pest contamination.
The banning of these shipments is seen as a retaliatory move by China, which accounts for 40 percent of Canadian canola exports, following the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wenzhou in Vancouver at the request of the U.S.
On April 1, the Canadian government requested permission from China for a Canadian delegation from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to visit the country to conduct tests to verify these claims of contamination, however, Beijing has yet to agree to such a move.
With no response from the Chinese government, Canadian Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau has written her counterpart on China to push for a resolution, and Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has urged Prime Minister Trudeau to pull the $256 million that Canada has committed to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank; to appoint a new ambassador to China; file a complaint with the World Trade Organization; and to increase support to Canadian canola farmers affected by the trade disruption.
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