The CWB welcomes an announcement today by the Government of Canada that free-trade negotiations will officially commence with Morocco, a crucial market for exports of high-quality durum wheat worth a quarter billion dollars a year to Prairie farmers.
“I congratulate the government for its success in initiating discussions towards this vital trade agreement,” said CWB president and CEO Ian White, who is in Morocco this week for discussions with major wheat customers. CWB would be pleased to provide whatever assistance it can to the government in negotiating this agreement.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the announcement today during a visit to the Moroccan capital of Rabat. International Trade Minister Peter Van Loan and Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Gerry Ritz also travelled to Morocco, where Ritz led a delegation of Canadian agricultural exporters and industry groups including the CWB.
“Western Canadian farmers now supply 80 per cent of the durum imported by Morocco, where it is a staple food source,” White said. “We cannot afford to have our dominant position eroded if the United States retains preferential wheat market access. Canadian farmers need a free-trade agreement that puts them on an equal footing with their major durum competitors.”
The United States is in the sixth year of a 10-year implementation period of its own free-trade agreement with Morocco. The American deal provides an increasing tariff advantage for U.S. durum into this important market.
Durum makes up 92 per cent of the value of Canadian agricultural exports to Morocco, which account for the majority of Canadian exports to that country. The CWB exports an average of 525 000 tonnes of durum each year to Morocco. This consists almost entirely of top-quality No. 1 Canadian Western Amber Durum, which is highly valued for couscous, pasta and bread.
“Western Canadian durum is the quality leader in this market,” White said. “The colour of the flour it produces and its consistent quality from cargo to cargo make our durum wheat very desirable here. Morocco is therefore a strategic component of our durum export program, providing strong returns for Prairie farmers.”
The CWB has forged a strong relationship with all major players in the Moroccan durum milling industry. It hosts training programs in Winnipeg for Moroccan customers, with the assistance of the Canadian International Grains Institute (CIGI), to demonstrate the superior performance and high quality of our product. In early January, the CWB and CIGI held a seminar in Casablanca on the characteristics of the 2010 western Canadian wheat crop, with major Moroccan end-users, importers and government officials in attendance.
