Swine Flu Rumors Threaten Canadian Pork Exports

Misconceptions about Influenza H1N1

Apr 29, 2009

Blocking Canadian pork product exports makes little sense unless one can scientifically prove that hogs from Canada visited Mexico to start the current pandemic scare.

Last year, Canada exported US$2.27 billion worth of pork and port products to 106 countries around the globe. That represents a 14.4% rise from 2007. Today, the World Health Organization raised the swine flu pandemic alert level to 5, just one notch below the highest stage.

Countries Erecting Trade Barriers to Canadian Pork

Even before this latest announcement, Ukraine had banned shipments of pork products and live hogs from Canada as well as from America and Mexico. Ukraine imported $9.7 million in Canadian pork but no live Canadian pigs during 2008.

South Korea has blocked future imports of Canadian live hogs, but is still testing imported pork products for safety. South Korea spent only $715,336 on imported Canadian swine last year. However, Canadian pig farmers stand to lose significant revenues if South Korea decides to ban Canadian pork products. Canada exported $115.3 million worth of pork products to South Korea or 5.1% of Canada’s overall total during 2008.

Even though Croatia banned imports of live Canadian swine, Croatia received no hog shipments from Canada during 2008.

Panic Victimizes Canadian Pork Exporters

Careful planning to prevent a swine flu pandemic is wise. However, the name ‘swine flu’ sometimes misleads consumers into thinking that they can catch the disease by eating pork products. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centres for Disease Control, recently explained that only one component of the flu strain now infecting people worldwide originated in pigs.

Further, the World Health Organization has published a statement on its website that there is “… no risk of infection from this virus from consumption of well-cooked pork and pork products”.

Jurgen Preugschas, head of Canadian Pork Council, has asked that the name of the virus be changed to North American virus so that people around the world aren’t confused about the role that pork products play against the backdrop of the current swine flu crisis. As a result, international authorities have started to refer to the virus as H1N1.

Besides, the current thinking is that the H1N1 outbreak may have originated in Mexico. That nation is about 2,600 miles away from the Canadian border.

Top 15 Countries for Canadian Pork Product Exports

Listed below are the countries to which Canada shipped the most pork products during 2008.

Impact on Canadian Pork Product Shipments

If the H1N1 flu becomes a pandemic and government authorities unfairly block Canadian pork exports, one can expect the global economy to suffer another setback. As the world slowly tries to recover from one of the worst downturns since the Great Depression, the impact on Canadian pork product shipments becomes an important gauge for the health of that recovery.

Sources for this Article

This article presents independent calculations and insights based on data from Statistics Canada.

The copyright of the article Swine Flu Rumors Threaten Canadian Pork Exports in Import/Export is owned by Daniel Workman. Permission to republish Swine Flu Rumors Threaten Canadian Pork Exports in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.