Thank you, Carl.
My company, Alliance Grain Traders Incorporated, is based in Regina. We are one of the largest processors and exporters of pulse crops in the world, starting only seven years ago in the basement of my house, and now accounting for over $300 million in exports from Saskatchewan. We've created over 300 new jobs in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta.
Pulses are something that I think people are starting to get more familiar with here on Parliament Hill as a result of the dramatic growth of the sector in western Canada. If we look at a product like lentils alone, we can see that it will account for over three million acres of production in Saskatchewan this year. Canada is the world leader in green lentil production and has a dominant market share of about 75% of the global trade in this particular product.
As a result, changes in Canadian supplies, through changes in production and changes in carry-out stock levels, have significant impacts on the global price levels that reflect back to returns to Canadian growers.
There are only a limited number of markets for green lentils in the world, and Colombia is arguably the number one or number two market in the world for this particular commodity. As a result of Canada's dominant market position, we do enjoy a very dominant market penetration in Colombia today, on a 15% tariff basis, which of course may change dramatically if the U.S. agreement goes ahead and ours does not.
The U.S. industry recognizes the opportunity to take advantage of preferential access and is fully supporting the U.S. free trade agreement with Colombia as a way to actually displace Canada as the major supplier of this particular product. It's critical that Canada implement this agreement with Colombia to ensure that the Canadian trade and Canadian farmers retain their competitive access to one of its most important markets and retain the market share that they have worked hard to build over many, many years.
Now, to look at the impact of the agreement, it will re-establish access for Canadian red beans. It will allow us to preserve our market position in the current crops that we sell into that market. This particular bill does enjoy strong support from our industry. In fact, the Canadian Special Crops Association, which is made up of 150-odd members from across Canada, has endorsed this particular agreement unconditionally.
When we look at the impact on employment, in addition to the significant impact on growers and pulse crops, we can see that losing our competitive access to a market will have a significant impact on the value-added processing and exporting companies in our industry.
Now, I talk about being the largest, but I want to note that I started my first shipment in January of 2003. and this is an industry dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises. It is an industry that is definitely critical to the economy in western Canada. So the companies in our industry range from large multinational grain companies to others, but also are really dominated by small single-plant processors. These companies are significant sources of employment in Canada and provide quality jobs in the areas of marketing, finance, logistics, plant operations, etc.
From a perspective of customers in Colombia, we were actually the target of some very significant and angry reactions from Colombian importers due to Canada's lack of response on the establishment of a free trade agreement prior to 2006. So the news of a pending agreement has been welcome to the industry there.
As for the industry there, we must recognize that this is basic protein food for the mainstream consumer. This is not a politically sensitive commodity, and it is providing basic health and nutrition to many citizens in the country. So providing cost-effective access to this type of commodity on a duty structure that is much more favourable does do a lot for basically building civil society within that country.
I have with me a letter from the major importer in Colombia, which summarizes the benefit of the agreement to consumers. I will quote from it:
With the low incomes for a large part of some social classes...[the duty] saving would positively support their food needs with an excellent nutritional value. These products are not sensitive locally and do not displace local production.
Will the Colombian citizen benefit? Yes. With pulses being important protein sources for the poorest people in the world, lower tariffs have the potential to provide food at a lower cost.
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, the agreement is critical to our industry. It will ensure that we remain competitive in Colombia relative to the United States and will ensure that the years of market development by our companies are not jeopardized. It will allow us to rebuild our market share in red beans and it will provide an opportunity to gain an advantage relative to other shippers if Canada implements our agreement before the United States.
We need to ensure we implement as soon as possible, preferably before we start marketing and shipping our new crop later this summer.
We thank you for the opportunity.