Good morning, I would like to begin by thanking you for having invited us today. It's a pleasure to see you again.
We were here before, in 2012, on the agri-marketing program.
Just to place things, Groupe Export is the largest food exporter, food processor, in Quebec, with over 400 companies that are members of our organization. We've been in business for almost 25 years. We are also the owner and shareholder of the SIAL Canada, the largest trade show in Montreal and Toronto every year. The next one is going to be in Toronto by the end of April.
We do something like 25 to 30 international representations, in different food shows around the world. We're here today, of course, to outline the importance of the CETA.
For Quebec, the future of the food and beverage industry depends to a great extent on international markets. In Quebec, the domestic market represents $21 billion. Fifty-three per cent of that market share is held by Quebec companies, that is, for an amount of about $11.3 billion. What we are particularly interested in under the free trade agreement is the opportunity to close the trade gap with Europe. We'll come back to that later.
As for external markets, exports outside Quebec total $12.7 billion per year.
In the rest of Canada, there's $6.7 billion. Half of our exports from Quebec are to the rest of Canada, and the rest of the world represents $6 billion.
Since 1990 in Quebec, export growth has been exponential. Today, it has reached 499%. So you can actually say it is 500%. It is clear that exports are extremely important and crucial to us. In Quebec, exports are worth $6.1 billion, and 62% of these exports go to the U.S. market. Between 90% and 95% of our members do business with the United States first, and then with other countries throughout the world.
As I mentioned earlier, Quebec exports to Europe are worth $511 million per year whereas European exports to Canada are worth $1.6 billion annually. So we're talking about a trade deficit of approximately $1 billion per year with Europe. It is very important for Quebec that specific measures be taken with regard to the European market so we can close this huge trade deficit.