Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee, for having us here today. It's a pleasure to be here alongside colleagues from across the Canadian agriculture value chain to discuss a very important topic for Canada's growing pulse industry.
My name is Mac Ross, and I am the director of market access and trade policy with Pulse Canada.
Pulse Canada is the national association representing growers, traders and processors of Canadian pulses, which include dry peas, beans, lentils and chickpeas. We have the privilege of serving over 25,000 pulse grower members, as well as businesses from every aspect of the value chain. On behalf of our members, we are proudly leading the future of healthy, sustainable food through the growth of Canada's pulse industry.
At Pulse Canada, our strategic plan is really centred around finding new markets and new uses for 25% of Canada's pulse production by the year 2025. When given a chance to compete, our industry is a Canadian success story.
Canada is the world's largest pulse exporter. Roughly 85% of pulses grown in Canada are exported to some 130 different markets around the world, and our competitiveness in each of these markets is dependent on predictable, rules-based trade.
Today roughly 80% of Canadian lentil and pea exports are exported to Asia. With the majority of exports concentrated in China and the Indian subcontinent, the Canadian pulse industry has a major opportunity to diversify our exports to other fast-growing markets within the Indo-Pacific region. However, the increasing prevalence of market access issues, mainly in the form of non-tariff barriers, continues to stifle our industry's ability to compete and achieve market growth in the Indo-Pacific. Strengthening market access and trade capabilities in this region is an important step that we can take to help proactively prevent and address increasing market access issues.
From a pulse perspective, we have long-standing and well-documented trade irritants with large pulse-importing markets like India, but over the past five years, we've also seen other markets within the region increasingly introduce non-tariff barriers that impede trade. These can range from fumigation requirements in Pakistan to unjustified weed seed requirements in Vietnam and abrupt import bans in Sri Lanka and Nepal. The common feature among all of these issues is that Canada had no advance warning. These non-tariff barriers only became apparent once shipments were denied entry at the port or en route at the time of the measures' implementation, leaving both industry and government reacting.
That is why, in co-operation with our colleagues at the Canola Council and Cereals Canada, we are pleased to bring forward this report, which Chris already mentioned, recommending how our industry can move from reactive to proactive in addressing these issues. Among the report's findings, a deeper presence within the Indo-Pacific with an increased focus on government-to-government engagement, regulatory and technical capacity building and diplomacy is identified as an important area of opportunity in responding to agricultural market access issues in the region.
Our report is clear that the use of non-tariff barriers in the Indo-Pacific region is a prevalent and growing threat to export diversification. To address this threat, Canada can establish a trade diversification office in the Indo-Pacific. Through a trade centre of excellence with a full complement of relevant experts in the region to build relationships and solve problems in real time, not only can Canada better respond to non-tariff barriers, but we can proactively manage issues before they become detrimental to our industry.
Canadian embassy staff currently do a commendable job, but they are often given many files to manage and, in certain markets, they may lack the relevant technical expertise to move such files along. Having in-region expertise with a long-term posting will help build the necessary relationships that are required to manage these difficult trade issues.
Our report is clear that our competitors also recognize the importance of a deeper presence in the Indo-Pacific when it comes to addressing these restrictive trade issues, and they're not sitting idly by. The United States, the EU, Australia and other competitors are investing heavily in resources to grow their respective exports in the region.
Our groups are here today not to paint a bleak picture but to come to the table with an actionable path forward. Our members pride themselves on being part of the solution. That is why we have invested in the development of a tangible business case for how Canada can not only catch up but surpass the work being done in the region by our competitors.
The cornerstone of this plan is the establishment of an Indo-Pacific diversification office, working in lockstep as a key part of the government's Indo-Pacific strategy. Together, with the support of the government, we are confident that we can seize the tremendous opportunity ahead.
Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.