Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee.
My name is Robert Godfrey and I am the director of policy and government relations for the Canadian Fertilizer Institute. With me today is Clyde Graham, CFI's vice-president of strategies and alliances.
I want to the thank the committee for inviting us here to speak about the Canada-European Union comprehensive economic and trade agreement and what it does for both our industry and our farming customers here in Canada.
CFI represents the basic manufacturers of nitrogen, phosphate, potash, and sulphur fertilizers, as well as the major wholesale and retail distributors in Canada. Our members produce over 25 million tonnes of fertilizer annually, over 75% of which is exported to over 60 countries around the world. Saskatchewan alone accounts for more than 30% of world potash production and 45% of the world potash trade. A recent report conducted by Natural Resources Canada cited potash as the number one valued mineral in Canada.
Canada is also home to a considerable amount of nitrogen production. The Canadian fertilizer industry is widely viewed as a world leader, and it depends upon the global markets for its success. The European Union represents one of the largest consumer markets in the world with 28 developed states and 500 million people. According to recent testimony to this committee by different farm groups, we understand this agreement could result in an additional $1.5 billion in new Canadian agrifood exports to the European Union.
CFI takes the view that what is good for farmers is good for us. If our farming customers are growing more crops and exporting more of their product at higher prices, they will need more inputs, including fertilizer. Canadian farm gate sales of fertilizer products last year reached a total of almost $3.5 billion. CETA will lead to growth in the farming community, and these benefits undoubtedly will be extended to the fertilizer industry.
As for fertilizer exports, today the Canadian fertilizer industry does not export a significant amount of product to Europe. We are talking about less than 1% of all fertilizer products exported annually. However, CETA opens the door to potential. History shows that free trade agreements are often the catalyst to business deals that were once seen as unfeasible.
CETA presented few issues for us. However, we did speak with officials in the Department of International Trade last year with regard to rules of origin. The officials worked with us and went to lengths to ensure that CETA works for us today and will work for us in the future. We were pleased that they reached out to us, and we hope this spirit of cooperation continues in future negotiations.
CETA is a rules-based agreement. CFI and our members plan to participate in the development of standards for fertilizers and soil conditioners on a technical committee inside the International Organization for Standardization. This technical committee will give Canada a platform to influence global standards on fertilizer products. These standards complement agreements such as CETA.
CFI and our members are strong supporters of the Canadian government's global commerce strategy. While Europe is an important market for our farming customers, our industry's focus is on Asia-Pacific and the Americas where potential growth for fertilizer sales is the highest. We are watching closely the discussions Canada is having with India. We were pleased to see the government removing sanctions in Myanmar, and we are excited about the opportunity this market presents. We have been monitoring the negotiations with Korea, negotiations which we hope move forward soon. We are following the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations as well. Markets such as Vietnam and Malaysia, to name a couple, present enormous growth potential for our industry. CFI is a member of the agriculture trade negotiations consultation group and receives regular updates from the government on these negotiations. We are excited for the potential they provide to our industry.
We encourage the government to continue its aggressive pursuit of free trade and encourage this committee to support this initiative. Canada is an exporting nation in which economic growth is tied to our competiveness and our ability to get quality goods to global markets. CETA presents opportunity and a new way of doing business. Our industry is excited for the future. We look forward to continuing with the government and this committee in any way we can to further the free trade agenda.
I want to thank the members of this committee for hearing our remarks today. We'll be pleased to take any questions.