Japan has resumed its wheat trade with Canada, after temporarily suspending trade in June following the finding of a handful of GM wheat plants in southern Alberta.

“Japan is a long-standing, premium customer of Canadian wheat and is the highest grade buyer of Canadian wheat in the world,” noted Cam Dahl, President of Cereals Canada. “We appreciate that loyalty and highly value the collaborative nature of our trading partnership. Cereals Canada is grateful for the effort that the Government of Japan has put into resolving this issue as quickly as possible, work that included travel to Canada by officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries”.

He's impressed with how the Canadian value chain united to find a resolution to the concerns made by Japan.

“Cereals Canada wishes to recognize the united way in which the Canadian value chain has approached finding a resolution to the concerns that had caused Japan to temporarily close its borders to Canadian wheat. Almost all organizations and companies have come together to present unified single Canadian industry message. As a united industry we are able to work with the government and our customers to help maintain our reputation as a reliable supplier."

Cereals Canada is extending appreciation to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) for the technical and investigative work that has allowed for this issue to be resolved.

Japan has not found any GM wheat in their system, but will continue to test shipments of wheat sourced from Canada.

South Korea closed its border to Canadian wheat on June 18, but resumed trade about a week later.

 

Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, and Jim Carr, Minister of International Trade Diversification, issued the following statement today on the announcement.

“The Government of Canada welcomes the decision by Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture to lift the temporary suspension on imports of Canadian wheat, following its own thorough scientific testing of Canadian wheat shipments.

The decision by Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture and the already-announced decision by South Korea on June 26, 2018 to resume shipments reaffirms the excellent quality and consistency of Canadian wheat.

This marks an end to all international trade actions arising from Canada’s announcement of an isolated discovery of unauthorized genetically modified wheat in southern Alberta on June 14, 2018.

Based on extensive scientific testing at that time, the Government of Canada concluded that this unauthorized wheat is not present in the food or animal feed system, or anywhere other than the isolated site where it was discovered. Officials worked quickly and collaboratively with Japanese authorities to provide the necessary information to secure this positive outcome.

Canada is a safe and reliable global supplier of wheat. Canadian wheat production in 2017 was 30 million tonnes across an area of 22 million acres, making it one of the largest field crops in Canada. Canadian exports of wheat globally are valued at approximately $6.6 billion annually.”