Thank you, Mr. Vice-Chair.
Thank you to the committee for the opportunity to appear today.
My name is Jeff English, and I'm the vice-president of marketing and communications with Pulse Canada.
Pulse Canada is the national organization representing the growers, traders and processors of Canadian pulses. Canadian pulse crops include peas, lentils, chickpeas, dry beans and fava beans. On behalf of the over 25,000 pulse growers and over 100 small, medium-sized and large companies that deal in pulses, Pulse Canada works to create diversified, stable and sustainable demand for our products by not only marketing the health and environmental benefits of pulses but also accelerating the research to create incentives to use pulses in food and industrial industries and collaborating with key stakeholders to create food systems that prioritize health and sustainability. At the same time, we also work with governments and like-minded groups to remove barriers to trade by keeping crop protection products available to growers, advocating for the improvement of domestic grain transportation and, of course, ensuring continued and expanded market access in key regions.
Trade is the lifeblood of Canada's pulse industry. In fact, Canada is the single largest exporter of pulse crops in the world, accounting for roughly one-third of the global pulse trade. We export high-quality pulse crops—about 85% of what we grow—to over 120 countries, meaning that our industry is heavily reliant on predictable market access.
Market diversification remains a priority for our industry. Like most commodities, Canadian pulses have a handful of key markets that are responsible for a significant portion of our exports. That is exactly why exploring new trade deals with countries such as Ecuador is of great importance to Canada's pulse growers, processors and exporters. As the global leader, having access to new customers not only helps drive demand for our products but helps drive economic growth across the sector and beyond, throughout Canada.
In the last year alone Canada exported roughly 28 million dollars' worth of lentils and $4.2 million of dried peas to Ecuador. This made our country the lead in export market share in that country, with Canadian lentils and peas accounting for the overwhelming majority of Ecuadorean imports. In 2023 we supplied over 90% of lentil exports and 80% of pea exports, and while there were no sales of pulse ingredients made in 2023, we know that pulses are growing in popularity and use worldwide. This includes the inclusion of pulse ingredients in products ranging from baked goods to snacks, dairy alternatives and beyond. This means that as these products become more adopted throughout South America, exports of pulse ingredients from Canada will become a serious growth opportunity for our sector.
As Canada formulates its negotiating objectives, Pulse Canada's trade priorities are threefold. First is the elimination of applied and bound tariffs for pulses and pulse products. Any deal signed should and must include the lowering of tariffs for Canadian pulses, giving our growers and industry a competitive advantage over our key competitors.
Second is a robust sanitary and phytosanitary chapter that delivers predictable, transparent and, importantly, science-based requirements. As we have seen time and time again, to be effective, a modern-day trade deal must go beyond tariff reduction and include provisions that ensure trade is not held hostage by non-tariff barriers. The signing of a deal is an important step, but the implementation of that deal is even more important to those on the ground who rely on it to facilitate trade.
Thirdly, a functional dispute settlement and co-operation mechanism is important to ensure proper implementation of the agreement and to provide a recourse should a disagreement arise. We know and we have seen that countries will not see eye to eye all the time, and when disagreements happen, a strong dispute settlement mechanism can ensure that differences are settled in a professional manner while trade continues to flow.
We ask that these priorities be carefully considered when negotiating any free trade agreement, including that, as I mentioned, with Ecuador. As a sector that relies on trade for our success, we remain supportive of the government's willingness and ambition to increase trading ties with new regions and new markets around the world.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to outline a few of our priorities, and I look forward to any questions you might have.