Farmscape for January 5, 2005  (Episode 1684)

The Chair of Manitoba Pork Council is hopeful 2005 will bring an end to American antidumping duties imposed on imported live Canadian pigs.

In October the US Department of Commerce imposed a 16 percent antidumping duty on the majority of live Canadian slaughter hogs and weanling pigs entering the US.

Manitoba Pork Council Chair Karl Kynoch says Canada's defense is gaining strength as the case moves forward and there is a growing confidence that Canada will win the final injury argument in April and that the trade action will end.

Clip-Karl Kynoch-Manitoba Pork Council 

Some of the factors that lead to our case strengthening is the fact that we've had an increase in live hogs going south and at the same time we've been having record prices.

Normally, in correlation, when you have an increase in hogs your prices drop off and that hasn't happened in '04.

The Americans have been receiving record prices and here in Canada also we've had some record prices this year which would have been better if it wouldn't have been for the dollar.

When you get, at the same time, an increased live production going south and an increased price it's pretty tough for the Americans to argue that we're actually jeopardizing their industry.

Basically that shows us that our price is controlled more on a world market and the thing we need to get our heads around here is the fact that we are a North American market.

Instead of having these trade actions across the border, we need to be working together with our counterparts in the south just as much as the east and west to see what we can do to better our industry as a North American market.

Our products have to compete on the world market.

Kynoch says there is a growing recognition in the US of the need to move toward better trade relations.

He says some of these trade actions are actually jeopardizing American producers.

He says it appears the US is beginning to realize this is a North American market and the two industries need be working together and not fighting one another.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council