I'm an engineer with IPEX. We're based in Oakville, Ontario. We make the black plumbing pipe under your sink, the grey pipe that brings power to your house, the blue pipe that brings clean water to your tap, the green pipe that takes your sewage away, as well as many other pipes that are used in hospitals and in commercial and industrial construction.
We were founded in 1949 by a fearless Estonian. He rented a house in downtown Toronto, started making hula hoops at night and selling them during the day, and by 1953 hula hoops were everywhere. Always innovating, sensing the hula hoop might be a fad, he straightened out the hula hoop, and that's how he got into the pipe business. By the way, he also invented those red gas cans you see absolutely everywhere.
Today IPEX exports to 66 countries from our 15 plants in Canada and our 10 plants in the United States, with thousands of dedicated team members.
Growth for us in America has been very robust. USMCA, or CUSMA as we call it, has been very helpful in many respects, but contrary to common belief, it does not protect us from buy America. Canadian companies continue to be blocked on U.S. federal-funded infrastructure projects, while American firms have unfettered access to Canada.
Ironically, IPEX buys American all day long. Our products are made from American resin. Natural gas, often from Canada, makes it down to the U.S., where it's cracked into ethylene and combined with chlorine from salts. The pellets come back to Canada, where they're used to make long-life products such as siding, windows, soffits, decking, fencing, and of course in our case, pipes.
Last year 18% of all U.S. vinyl resin production came to Canada. China was its second biggest customer at 10.1%, and Mexico was its third biggest customer at 10%. This year it's expected that Canada will be bigger than China and Mexico combined.
We are America's biggest customer, and yet we are being prevented from shipping finished goods back into the United States, even though there's a shortage in the U.S. currently.
Prime Minister Harper successfully secured an exemption to buy America in February 2010, with President Obama. We think the time is right for Prime Minister Trudeau to do the same with President Biden. It's in America's best interests to use Canadian vinyl products rather than Chinese. We share similar laws, regulations, business practices and environmental protections. More importantly, we are allies.
The focus on green infrastructure in both countries is another reason Canadian products should qualify for an exemption to buy America.
An example of the beneficial Canada-U.S. trade relationship can be found in Burton, Michigan, just outside of Flint. Over the last six years, Burton has worked to remove lead in their water supply. After careful due diligence, Burton embarked on a 19-mile water main replacement program using a Canadian innovation: biaxially oriented lead-free vinyl pipe. It conserves resources by using significantly less material and reducing its environmental footprint while providing high strength.
The pipe was made in Saint-Laurent, Quebec, just outside of Montreal using Unifor union labour and was installed by LiUNA members on the opposite side of the border.
Burton now has cleaner water, has minimized its environmental footprint and has saved $2.1 million using a Canadian-innovated product. Indeed, a 2018 Utah State University study confirmed Burton's prudent decision. The study showed that break rates for Canadian vinyl pipe are best in class, inferring that there's a great benefit for American municipalities in using innovative Canadian technology for infrastructure renewal.
We also make a seismic pipe used in earthquake-prone zones. It was developed and tested with the help of Cornell University's seismic lab in Ithaca, New York. The pipes are now used all along the U.S. west coast.
I've shared just two examples this evening, but as you can appreciate, I could have shared hundreds, had we had time.
In conclusion, we urge the committee to work for an exemption to buy America so that the benefits of free and fair trade can be mutually maximized for both countries post-COVID.
Thank you very much,. I look forward to your questions.