On Monday, April 22, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced that some Canadian pork shipments to China were delayed by exporters using outdated forms to verify that the goods meet China's requirements.
The problem is that Canada sent more pork this year to China, where the domestic pig population is devastated by African plague. Complexity is added by the fact that both countries are involved in a diplomatic and trade dispute, which led to the fact that China blocked the import of Canadian canola from two companies.
China has not imposed any restrictions on Canadian pork, and the CFIA is not aware that the Chinese government or its importers are causing new delays, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said. According to her, at present the delivery problem is associated with the use of different languages and formats between the old and current forms of export certificates provided by CFIA.
Delivery problems are a “paperwork problem,” but Canada continues to ship pork to China normally, said Gary Stordy, spokeswoman for the Canadian Pork Board, which represents the country's pig farmers.
The Canadian government is currently pressuring Canadian exporters to look for “urgent” replacement certificates, as this affects both current shipments and some other transit shipments to China.
According to Canadian statistics, China is Canada's largest pork export market by volume in the first two months of 2019, purchasing 59,000 tons from Canada, which is 23 percent more than a year earlier.
