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Slowly but surely Canada learns,good luck

HAY MAKER

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Japan is fertile ground for Sask. products
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Published: Friday, September 29, 2006
More than $500 million in Saskatchewan exports already annually flow to Japan, but there are also new opportunities to explore, Japan's ambassador to Canada said Thursday.

Ambassador Sadaaki Numata met with the head of Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership (STEP) to discuss the trade relationship between this province and Japan.

Saskatchewan's exports to Japan surpassed half a billion dollars in 2005, making Japan the province's third largest international export destination, behind China and the United States. The main exports to Japan are primary and secondary products, such as grains and oilseeds, potash, pork and uranium, but "value-added" products have potential, Numata said.

"We certainly would like to not only keep up this relationship but expand it further. I think it's really in our mutual interest to see where the possibilities lie," Numata told reporters after the meeting in downtown Regina.

"The first (opportunity) is obviously to keep up what we have been doing and to improve it and to build on it further," he said. "At the same time we should explore opportunities for Saskatchewan's export of value-added agricultural products."

Numata pointed to "nutraceuticals" as a potential future possibility, a term he said he learned during this visit -- his first -- to Saskatchewan.

Nutraceuticals, or foods with certain health or medical benefits, aren't the only export that can appeal to a health- conscious market, said Dale Botting, president and CEO of STEP.

"We see food and health becoming more intermingled all the time, not just through nutraceuticals but through other healthy foods that we grow. We have low-pesticide application because of our cold climate; we have healthy food production."

Botting called Japan one of the province's most strategic partners, and one with a long-standing trade relationship dating back to the 1960s.

"On the energy front we are a major uranium supplier to help together develop a more prosperous energy and secure energy future for the world."

Japan is also a key player for Saskatchewan canola. Statistics from the provincial government indicate more than 50 per cent of Saskatchewan's total exports of canola go to that market.

Numata said the resumption of some Canadian beef exports to Japan is going well. Canadian beef was shut out of the Japanese market for two years following the 2003 discovery of BSE in an Alberta cow.

Canada's work in the area of cattle traceability, where an animal's history can be easily traced back, was a key factor in resuming some of the beef trade, he said.

© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2006
 
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