Farmscape for December 5, 2005  (Episode 1986)

Canada's commercial feed manufacturers are echoing the call for Canada to delay a decision on the imposition of duties on imported non-processed American grain corn until the end of January.

Last month the Canadian International Trade Tribunal determined there is evidence imports of subsidized non-processed US grain corn are harming Canadian corn producers and the Canada Border Services Agency is scheduled to announce, next week, whether it will impose an interim duty on the imports.

Animal Nutrition Association of Canada General Manager Kathleen Sullivan suggests announcing such a duty in the midst of key World Trade Organization negotiations would send the wrong message to Canada's trading partners.

Clip-Kathleen Sullivan-Animal Nutrition Association of Canada

December 15th is the date we all have our eye on right now.

That is the day on which the Canada border services agency could impose a provisional or temporary duty.

Feed costs represent about 60 percent of the cost of producing livestock in this country so anything that's going to increase the price of feed is going to have an immediate effect.

There is the opportunity for the Canadian government to delay the date of imposing the provisional duty.

They can either wave the provisional duty completely or delay the date until the end of January.

We think that would be a better way to go for a couple of reasons.

One it would delay any provisional duties until after the Hong Kong negotiations which are going to start up in about a week now.

Also it would delay the implementation of the provisional duties until after an election.

We are still hopeful that we can sit down with the corn producers who have brought this complaint and perhaps try to identify other solutions to their concerns and their problems rather than the imposition of duties which are probably going to hurt everybody in the end.

Sullivan points out Canada has consistently indicated to other countries that it's interested in more liberalized trade and to Canadian consumers that it's very important to focus on value added products.

She suggests a duty on US corn would send a message that we're not entirely clear what our objectives are.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council