Thank you.
We have a cattle operation in addition to field crop production, wheat, barley, canola, and peas, which is our primary pulse crop.
I have served on the Alberta Pulse Growers commission for six years now, entering my seventh year. I have been their representative on Pulse Canada for a number of years, and was most recently elected chair of the national organization.
Pulse Canada is a national industry association funded by the farmers who grow peas, lentils, beans, and chickpeas across Canada, as well as by the processing and exporting companies that export pulses to 160 countries around the world.
For more than 15 years, Pulse Canada has been focused on market access as one of the members' top priorities. Access to markets in a predictable and stable trading environment is a prerequisite to building an export-oriented resource economy for Canada.
We'd like to use our time to talk about the Canadian pulse and special crops industry's perspective on the Pacific Alliance and what may be possible to achieve in terms of enhanced regulatory harmonization with the countries involved.
Each of the member countries of the Pacific Alliance—Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Chile—are among the Canadian pulse industry's top 20 importing countries. However, taken together, exports of Canadian pulse and special crops to the four countries are valued at $148 million annually, equivalent to 206,000 tonnes per year. This is averaged over the years 2009 to 2012.
Measured as one, the four countries would represent the fifth largest export market for the Canadian pulse and special crops industry, equivalent to just under 8% of the value of Canada's total pulse crop export program.
Lentils are the most significant pulse and special crop export to the Pacific Alliance members, with average annual exports of 135,000 tonnes, or approximately 12% of Canada's annual lentil export volume. The primary competition is lentils of U.S. origin, although this is limited, as Canada is the dominant supplier of lentils worldwide, with more than 60% of the global trade.
Canada is also a significant supplier of dry peas and beans to the four countries, which is an important region that ranks behind only the U.S. and the EU in the case of dry beans, and in the case of peas, behind India, China, Bangladesh, and the EU.
The Canadian pulse industry is very supportive of the development of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements at the government-to-government level, because they provide the opportunity to create a more permanent and lasting trade policy framework that levels the playing field with other exporting nations. They also ensure that yearly fluctuations in domestic production are not met with yearly fluctuations in import or access policy. Predictable trade policy is a vital component of food security and, equally important, a vital component of affordable food.
The Pacific Alliance is an interesting opportunity from the Canadian pulse industry's perspective. On one hand, Canada has already negotiated free trade agreements with each of the four member countries, and these either address or are in the process of addressing most tariff, quota, and trade escalation issues.
Gordon.