International Trade committee  That's why I said it's a very delicate.... We are not there yet in our consultations.

International Trade committee  In our case, we want to be exempted from the safeguard. The Mexicans and the Chileans, in their free trade agreements with Japan, have been exempted. We suffered episodes of the safeguard being triggered, so we know what the beef industry is talking about. So that's our negotiat

International Trade committee  The value of that market is $300 million. But since the Americans implemented their own free trade agreement, and the European Union, we've seen in the last two months our sales really drop. And what we're seeing also, on top of that, is we are losing the value-added end of that

International Trade committee  He's on his way now. We appreciate that, we're okay with the whole situation. We are pleased with the fact that the Canadian government is now seeking to get the Korean government re-engaged in discussions. But the problem also was the political situation in Korea. The Korean go

International Trade committee  No, not always.

International Trade committee  First, the IPMF is similar to the legacy fund of the beef industry. We are talking about two items that are similar. Okay, I would have to say no—

International Trade committee  —because you have to take a look at what our competitors are doing. The Americans especially have very deep pockets. The U.S. budget is close to $25 million or $30 million. Of course they handle both pork and beef, but between the two of us, beef and pork, we don't get close to t

International Trade committee  It's just because of the complexity of the Japanese pork import regime. We will need time to try to figure out the various options to negotiate. It's nothing new here, because we know we'll be the last one to be dealt with at the EU. We are one of the last ones with Korea. It alw

International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  Oh boy—even my own people do not always understand what the whole thing is about. I will try my best. In order to get into Japan, each shipment must meet a minimum price, which was established under the WTO Uruguay Round. Before the WTO agreement, it was fluctuating every day ba

International Trade committee  It's a very complex issue. Also, we are subject to the same safeguard as the beef industry. That safeguard is 19% in our case. It then kicks up the minimum price by 24%, which means that it becomes even more difficult to sell cheaper cuts. Also, the fluctuation of the yen is suc

International Trade committee  I could forward to you a 20-page explanation if you need it.

International Trade committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. My name is Jacques Pomerleau. I'm the president of Canada Pork International. For those who do not know us, CPI, as we are also known, is the export market development agency of the Canadian pork industry. We were established in 1991 as a joint in

Agriculture committee  As I said, we will be looking at a strategy to adopt in the next few months, but I'll take your comments into consideration.

Agriculture committee  It's not that much, but at the same time, that is the argument the U.S. used against us for COOL; you know, you have to know where it's spread, etc. We've always said that slaughter confers origin. You see, when their packaging comes to the supermarkets, they have that U.S. seal