The Canadian Cattle Association is coming out in support of Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy and the opening of an  Agriculture and Agri-Food Office in the region. 

Jack Chaffe, co-chair of the CCA's Foreign Trade Committee, says its one of our biggest export markets  for us with Japan our number 2 market, while markets for Canadian beef are growing in Korea and Vietnam.

" In 2021, our exports to Japan was around $438 million an increase of 43 per cent from 2020. A lot of that has increased since the removal of some tariffs since the last CPTPP agreement."

He feels having an office in the Indo-Pacific area will be very important, especially when trying to negotiate new trade deals or trying to get tariffs removed.

"There's still some products, some export products, that we can only ship under 30 months of age into certain countries. So some of those restrictions moving forward, if we can get some of them removed, it'll just open up the export market that much more. Because currently, the export market if you figure it back per head, per animal that is processed, it adds about $1,050 for every market animal in Canada."

You can hear more of Glenda-Lee's conversation with the CCA's co-chair of the Foreign Trade Committee Jack Chaffe by clicking on the link below.