Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning. My name is Claire Citeau and I am the Executive Director of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, or CAFTA. This morning, my director Ron Davidson joins me. He is the Director, International Trade and Government Relations, for the Canadian Meat Council.
Thank you for inviting us today to speak on behalf of CAFTA with regard to the Canada-European Union comprehensive economic and trade agreement, CETA.
CAFTA is a coalition of national and regional organizations that support a more open and fair international trading environment for Canada's agriculture and agrifood. CAFTA's members include farmers, producers, processors, and exporters from the major trade-dependent sectors, including beef, pork, grains, oilseed, sugar, and malt. Together, CAFTA members account for 80% of Canada's agriculture and agrifood exports, totalling $46 billion in exports annually, and directly employ half a million Canadians.
CAFTA was able to immediately and unequivocally voice its support of the agreement in principle that was signed in 2013. Most recently, we were also very pleased by the conclusion this fall of negotiations of CETA.
Fair and free trade is the top priority to ensure competitive access for Canadian agriculture and agrifood products throughout the world. In the current environment of competitive trade liberalization, countries are competing with each other to be the first to secure free, or at least preferential, access to the world's major markets. Today the success of our export market also depends on the timely negotiation and implementation of preferential trade access to the markets that our competitors are after.
CETA secures real and substantial access to one of the world's few multibillion-dollar export markets. Importantly, it does so ahead of our major competitors.
We concur with the observations made by many international trade experts that the Canada-EU trade deal, when implemented, will be Canada's most significant trade agreement since NAFTA. CETA covers a significant range of issues, including tariffs, non-tariff barriers, services and investment, financial services, government procurement, and more.
The European Union includes 28 countries, with a combined population exceeding 500 million. In 2013 Canada's agriculture and agrifood exports were valued at $2.8 billion. This is only 5% of Canada's total agrifood exports. CETA offers tremendous potential for our members, and our exports really should be much higher.
I would like to share with you a sample of CAFTA members' projections of the additional opportunities that are seen to be provided by CETA.
The Canola Council of Canada estimates that the Canada-EU agreement will provide the sector's exporters the opportunity to increase sales by up to $90 million per year.
The Canadian Cattlemen's Association points to new duty-free access for almost 65,000 tonnes of beef at a value they estimate to be nearly $600 million.
Opportunities from CETA for the cereals and grains sector are seen to be both direct and indirect. The grain sector has identified duty-free wheat sales on top of the grain utilized in feed for livestock to meet the increased EU demand for Canadian meat.
The Canadian Meat Council, representing meat processors, has pointed out that the value of EU agricultural imports has increased by some 145% in just over a decade, and sees important export growth opportunities for bison, veal, and prepared meats, in addition to pork and beef.
The sugar industry, through the Canadian Sugar Institute, expects CETA will secure an additional $100 million in exports of sugar-containing products to the European Union.
And the Canadian Pork Council, representing Canada's hog producers, has projected, based on existing market intelligence and the anticipated opportunities for specific cuts of pork, that this deal, in a few short years, could lead to annual sales of up to $400 million per year.
Taken together, we believe the Canada-EU agreement, when fully implemented, could result in up to $1.5 billion in new exports to the European Union.
On the day of the implementation, tariffs on almost 94% of Canada's agrifood exports will be eliminated.
Over the course of the implementation period, virtually all other tariffs, other than for beef and pork, will also be eliminated.
Also important, and contributing to the value of CETA for the Canadian agrifood industry, is the fact that the negotiations have gone beyond tariffs, taking on a wide range of non-tariff issues critical to Canada's agriculture and agrifood exporters. Notably, CETA has included discussion in areas such as technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary issues, regulatory cooperation, and export subsidies.
CETA has also established mechanisms that will promote cooperation and discussion on regulatory issues and non-tariff barriers that impede trade. Through CETA, Canada and the EU have also committed to work together to advance a number of non-tariff issues, including approval of meat processing facilities and timely approval of biotech traits.
To conclude, we firmly believe that CETA will provide the net national benefit to Canada that merits this agreement being implemented, and we look forward to the continued support of the federal and provincial governments in achieving this outcome.