Thank you.
Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the standing committee.
My name is Curt Vossen, and I'm the president and CEO of Richardson International Limited, which is based in Winnipeg. Accompanying me today is Jean-Marc Ruest, who is our senior vice-president, corporate affairs and general counsel.
I thank you for inviting our company to give our perspective on the current trade disruption of canola seed exports to China.
Richardson International is one of Canada's leading agribusinesses. Our company was founded in 1857 by the Richardson family and continues to be privately held by the fifth, and soon to be the sixth, generation of the Richardson family. We are involved in the sale of crop inputs to producers, in the handling and export of Canadian grains, oilseeds and pulses, the processing of canola and oats on a large-scale basis, and the manufacturing of canola oil into products such as bottled oil for retail, for food service, for industrial purposes, and for shortening and margarines.
We have a very long history with China dating back over 100 years. We were among the very first Canadian companies to export grain to China and have developed a deep and meaningful relationship with our Chinese customers. While our relationship with China has grown over a century, the importance of the Chinese market to the Canadian grains, oilseeds and pulses exports has become particularly evident over the last several years.
In 2018, the grain sector represented just under 30% of all goods sold to China by Canada. Of the top 25 products exported to China, seven grain and oilseed products appear on the list, totalling $4.8 billion. Canola seed was, of course, the single largest export from Canada to China in 2018 at $2.72 billion Canadian. Canola products alone represented just over 15% of all of Canada's exports to China. If we look at the top five products sent to China last year, which include canola seed, wood pulp, canola oil, soybeans and lumber, grains and oilseeds accounted for just over 60% of the value of those cumulative exports.
To say that canola is important to Canada's trading relationship with China would be a gross understatement. Canola, and indeed the entire grains and oilseeds complex, is the foundation of Canada's trading relationship with China.
As you are aware, China began raising allegations over the last few months that Canadian canola shipments, including those from Richardson, were non-compliant with Chinese phytosanitary requirements due to the alleged presence of prohibited weed seeds and fungal disease. Our internal testing at the time of loading, testing conducted by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency at the time of loading and subsequent to the complaints being advanced by the Chinese authorities were unable to detect the presence of the alleged weed seeds or disease. In fact, several of the weed seeds alleged to have been in our shipments have not been found in any Canadian shipments over the last decade.
Notwithstanding these results, China chose to abruptly suspend our company's licence to export canola seed on March 1 of this year based on those allegations. You can appreciate that such a course of action was alarming and upsetting, given Richardson's long-standing relationship with China—an unblemished relationship with China—and the importance of the Chinese market for Canadian grain and oilseed exports. We are particularly upset by the fact that Richardson was singled out.
The fact that a single commodity, namely canola, has been targeted and individual Canadian exporters singled out by the Chinese government in response to a claimed industry-wide issue is troubling. These issues need to be addressed by our country—our government—immediately.
While we understand and agree that technical discussions between the regulatory subject-matter experts must be allowed to occur to either address or dispel the quality issues that have been raised, we cannot emphasize enough the importance of expediting this process.