CHINA TOPIX

11/22/2024 10:06:20 am

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Canola Issue Likely to Dominate Talks During Canadian PM's Visit to China Next Week

China and Canada.

(Photo : Getty Images.) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to visit China next week.

Impending restrictions on Canada's canola exports is likely to dominate talks during Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's visit to China next week.

Ottawa says it wants to settle the canola issue, but China has accused Canada of being inflexible and has threatened to look to other countries for importing canola.

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Trudeau is scheduled to visit China from August 30 to September 6, where he is also scheduled to attend the G20 Summit next week at Hangzhou.          

Earlier this year, China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine (AQSIQ) announced that it would enforce stricter quality inspections for canola shipments from Canada starting from September 1. AQSIQ had earlier fixed April 1 as the deadline but later postponed it.

With final deadline barely one week away, Trudeau is facing immense pressure from Canada's local canola industry to seek respite from China. Earlier this month, officials from the Canadian government arrived in Beijing to take up the issue with Chinese officials.

The impasse over the canola issue revolves around the dockage level, which denotes the concentration of plants and weeds in canola deliveries from Canada. China fears that current dockage level can spread blackleg diseases in Chinese crops.

China is a huge market for Canada's canola industry. Canada currently exports nearly four million tonnes of canola seeds to China every year. This is approximately 40 percent of Canada's annual canola seed exports.

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