An Executive Member of Manitoba Pork’s Board of Directors says it took a visit to Japan to understand how much his customers appreciate the product he produces.
Earlier this month, in observance of the signing of the Comprehensive Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership and to celebrate Canadian pork’s ongoing relations with Japan, a delegation representing the sector travelled to Japan to meet with customers.
Scott Peters, a Steinbach area pork producer and Executive Director of Manitoba Pork, says it was only after arriving in Tokyo that he became aware of the significance of Canadian pork to the Japanese market.
From the very first meeting in Japan until the day we left we were told how important and how great the quality of Canadian pork is to the people of Japan, specifically the marbling and the texture and the fact that there’s no odor to it is specific to that market. When the pork is sliced in Japan they want it extremely thin and that’s actually called shabu shabu. Because our product is firm and the fat is firm, it slices extremely well and so the people of Japan prepare their meat exactly like that just to get that full taste.
Right now for Canadian producers, we are nailing right on the head for that market. Essentially we’re hitting it right out of the park so to speak. From my perspective, as an owner operator, I would say we should just keep doing what we are good at and keep the ball rolling. We’re dong an excellent job.
In terms of the trade to Japan I would say we’ve only scraped the surface of that market potential. They will continue to buy more of our product and as long as we keep doing it right I think there will be lot’s of opportunity there.
~ Scott Peters, Manitoba Pork
Peters says, when he and fellow pork producers stepped into a cold storage unit filled with hundreds of thousands of boxes of pork, he saw boxes from Maple Leaf, Olymel and HyLife and was struck with a sense of pride in the knowledge that he was a part of producing that product.
