A six day trade mission to Japan and South Korea, aimed at expanding agri-food sales to those markets after China’s refusal to buy Canadian canola, wrapped up recently.
Saskatchewan Trade and Export Minister Jeremy Harrison was part of a Canadian delegation that went there.
Harrison says the objective was to show they stand behind producers and create a good trading relationship with both countries.
He believes there is a “huge opportunity in these markets because of the free trade agreements that are in place.”
However, Harrison says those two nations alone won’t be able to fill the gap left by China, and will need to look at other markets to expand to, such as Indonesia and Vietnam.
Last year, Japan bought over 1.1 billion dollars worth of agri-food products from Saskatchewan, while South Korea purchased 117 million dollars worth of goods.
(With files from CKRM)