Canadian Pork In Asia

Monday, March 24, 2025

Advocacy, Currency Fluctuation & The Indo-Pacific Strategy

By Matt Jones

There have been a handful of stories in recent months on Canadian pork and its presence in Asia.

For more insight, Better Pork sought out Stephen Heckbert, executive director of the Canadian Pork Council, to share his thoughts on these recent developments.

Pork exports to Japan strong

Fluctuations in the Japanese yen benefitted the Canadian pork sector significantly last year.

According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, in the first 10 months of 2024 Japan imported a total of 1.2 billion KGM of pork and pork products, valued at $4.5 billion, representing an 8.6 per cent increase in quantity and a 17.3 per cent increase in value from the same period in 2023.

Industry representatives indicated that the increases could be attributed to more exports of chilled pork and the struggles of the Japanese yen.

Heckbert notes that the yen fluctuations were in a ‘sweet spot,’ as a softer yen can make Canadian exports more expensive. If it softens slightly, Japanese importers may want to import the same amount of pork but will just pay a little bit more for it. But if it softens too much, they will start to reduce the amount that they import.

“If the Japanese yen is softening, it usually means the cost of all their imports is increasing,” says Heckbert. “So, of course, pork is only one of the imports that the average family is looking at buying. It can seem like it’s good for us, because we’ll have more of it coming back.

“But everything’s a double-sided coin when you’re dealing with those kinds of currency fluctuations.

“Is the average Japanese household going to continue to eat as much imported pork?”

Heckbert observes that Japan does not and can not produce enough pork to satisfy their demand, so there will always be a certain amount of reliance on foreign markets.

The yen started out 2024 valued at roughly 0.0092 Canadian dollars. Its comparative value dropped throughout the year, reaching a low of 0.0084 in July. By September, it had rebounded back to similar numbers as the start of the year, and after some more fluctuations, it now appears to be set to end the year at a similar level.

“It’s been a pretty healthy year overall, not just any one market,” says Heckbert. “The Canadian dollar has performed well and consistently. So the foreign exchange up and down has been fairly predictable over the course of the year, which is good.”

However, with incoming U.S. president Donald Trump and his talk of tariffs, it seems likely that the pork export market will be more volatile in 2025.

Pork exports to two other Asian countries were also up significantly between January and October last year. Exports to Vietnam were $27.3 million (representing a 127.5 per cent increase in value and a 77.8 per cent increase in quantity) and exports to South Korea were $332.9 million (representing a 92.3 per cent increase in value and a 65 per cent increase in quantity).

Red meat office in Beijing

The Canadian red meat sector has banded together to improve the presence of Canadian pork and beef in China with a plan to establish a Canadian Meat Advocacy Office (CMAO) in Beijing. The staff at the office will work on strengthening relationships with the red meat industry in China, government agencies and Chinese consumers. The CMAO is a collaboration between the Canadian Meat Council, the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and the Canadian Pork Council.

“On one hand, it’s about taking advantage of the opportunities that are there,” says Heckbert. “I think it’s also an understanding from industry that we have a role to play in building our own profile in a market like China. Lots of other countries have said of the Chinese market, ‘Look, we have to bolster our presence there.’

“We’ve got to be clear that we’re in China, and we’re there for the long run, and we need to build our own relationships, and not simply rely on government-to-government relationships. We’re building long-term relationships there now, and one of the ways to do that is to make it clear that we’re advocating for Canadian pork inside China as well as inside Canada.”

Asked for an example of the kind of boots-on-the-ground work that the CMAO would perform, Heckbert offered the example of shipping labels. It is an innocuous enough topic, but working out the details of how best to apply those labels could cause delays.

“Let’s say it delays it by two days,” says Heckbert hypothetically.

“That’s two days of uncertainty in terms of quality of the product, in terms of, ‘is the buyer going to be able to rely on that?’

“It’s just about having people on the ground who can react faster, and in the same time zone, to some of the challenges you’d find both from a big picture perspective and also from those day-to-day administrative issues that can keep you from being successful.”

Indo-Pacific strategy

While not a new development, these efforts fit in as part of Canada’s wider Indo-Pacific Strategy, which was introduced a few years ago. The Indo-Pacific region comprises 40 different countries and economies, including six of Canada’s top 13 trading partners.

The strategy identifies five key strategic objectives and initiatives: 1) promoting peace, resilience and security, 2) expanding trade, investment and supply chain resilience, 3) investing in and connecting people, 4) building a sustainable and green future, and 5) establishing Canada as an active and engaged partner to the Indo-Pacific.

Heckbert notes that the industry is generally very supportive of the effort and hopes that the federal government will stick with it.

“We recognize that governments are going to change, things will change, but we’re hoping that Canada can say, ‘yes, we’re in it for the long haul,’” says Heckbert. “This is a part of the world where we’re interested in building these relationships and we’re interested in having this kind of trading relationship in the long run.

Heckbert states, with an eye on an upcoming federal election, that Canada has historically had a habit of changing priorities whenever governments change. In this case, he’s hoping that this priority will not need to change if a new government is elected.

“We can easily agree we’re still going to want to do trade with the Indo-Pacific,” says Heckbert. “The Philippines is a good market for us now, and it’s going to be a better market for us. Vietnam is going to be a growing market for us.

“Let’s continue to build those relationships, both as an industry and a government.” BP