The U.S. based National Pork Producers Council says a Canadian pork industry restructuring plan approved by the government of Canada is far less onerous than what had originally been requested by Canadian pork producers.
Last month the federal government announced a Canadian pork industry restructuring plan which will include access to interest bearing government backed credit, incentives to help struggling operations transition out of the industry and funding for international pork marketing initiatives.
National Pork Producers Council vice president and council for international trade policy Nick Giordano says the package is certainly less onerous than what had originally been proposed.
The proposal asked for a bail-out of about 800 million dollars.
The program that was approved on the 15th of August, or announced on the 15th of August, by the Canadian government is a more modest program.
To that extent, that it’s a lot smaller, we’re more comfortable with it.
Having said that there are a number of outstanding questions we have about the program and I think we’re going to withhold further judgment of the programs until we know what the details are.
Specifically I’m talking about the loans and to what extent are the loans on commercial terms and how preferential are they.
Are producers getting access to below market rates, what are the repayment terms, those sorts of issues.
We’ll be able to better comment when we’ve got a little more of a focus on that aspect of the program.
Giordano notes representatives of the Canadian pork industry and the federal government are still in the process of finalizing details of the package.
Source: Farmscape.Ca
