Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much for the invitation to be with you here today. My name is Brian Innes. I am the executive director at Soy Canada.
Effective transportation corridors are the lifeblood of our industry. We're really pleased that the committee is studying the role of government in enabling our products to get to market. Right now, your study is very important for our sector, because we have very poor container service, which is preventing us from being competitive in global markets.
I'm here today representing the soybean value chain. Soy Canada includes members from all segments of the value chain, from seed companies to producers to processors and exporters. We have a diverse industry, and we grow soybeans from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Rocky Mountains.
Soybeans are the third most valuable crop in Canada. They're the most valuable crop in Ontario and the most valuable source of revenue for farmers from crops in Quebec. We produce world-leading, food-grade soybeans to produce things like miso, tofu, natto and soy milk. We also produce commodity beans that are crushed to make meal for livestock, as well as oil for humans and for biofuel.
With more than 70% of our production exported, we are very focused on export markets and doing what's required to be competitive. Unfortunately, container service is our weak link right now. Container service is essential for our sector, because all of our food-grade production is shipped in containers. Approximately 40,000 containers of our food-grade soybeans are shipped from farmers' fields and processing plants in Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba to Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Unfortunately, because of the poor container service, we're losing value in market share to competitors in the U.S. who are getting better service.
I think the best way to illustrate this for you is to describe what our exporters are facing. Our exporters tell us that they are facing price discrimination. Prices for containers in Canada have soared relative to the U.S. While U.S. prices have increased by 30% to 40%, in Canada these prices have soared by 100% or 150%.
Our exporters tell us that they don't have sufficient access to empty containers to ship our products. Access to empty containers is being restricted by shipping lines as they focus on profits over service. This means that they're denying service to Canadian shippers like the soybean industry while they make record profits. As this committee has heard, and as has been widely reported, the container shipping lines are making record profits. In 2021 alone, they made five times more than the previous decade combined. These profits have been extracted from us and have put Canada at a competitive disadvantage.
What our exporters also tell us is that we're facing poor service, with little recourse due to the market power exerted by these container shipping lines. There is little competition, as there are only three shipping alliances that dominate global trade. For Canada, it's even worse. In Montreal, one line controls 70% of all the container movement from the port. When there's little competition, we're subject to the whims of whatever price, whatever level of service and whatever empty containers we are offered by the one shipping line.
Members will be aware that global shipping lines and supply chains are complex. Unfortunately, that is not a reason to exempt shipping lines from the normal limits imposed on businesses by the Competition Bureau.
As members of the container crunch coalition, we at Soy Canada have been consistent in asking for the federal government to show leadership and help our country have access to competitive container service. We ask that the government immediately open an investigation, under section 49 of the Canada Transportation Act, to investigate what is contributing to the current container disruptions and to better inform the legislative and regulatory changes required to address these competitive failures.
Second, we ask that the government name a supply chain commissioner to lead the recently announced industry-government task force, to bring together stakeholders and identify immediate solutions to address the supply chain disruptions we're seeing, especially in the containerized shipping supply chain.
These two actions are critical next steps for us to identify solutions to the poor services we're facing. They will help us move past the current situation, where we can't meet our commitments to customers, where we're rendered less competitive by discriminatory rates, towards a situation where all operators in the supply chain can improve performance—