Canada’s seven-year-old free trade pact with South Korea already provides for reduced tariffs on cherries from British Columbia — a commodity that’s just been approved for export to Korea for the first time starting this month.
Canadian agriculture and food safety officials announced Aug. 10 that talks with Seoul on import rules and certifications had concluded to allow registered Canadian cherry packers to export to Korea effective Aug. 1.
Up until Aug. 1, no Canadian fresh cherries could be exported to South Korea, as negotiations for phytosanitary conditions had not yet been completed, ag officials said via email.
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However, they added, the bilateral Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement in place since 2015 included an agreed-upon tariff reduction schedule for fresh cherries, “negotiated with the expectation that Canadian industry would eventually have access to the market.”
That means the tariff rate on exports of Canadian cherries to South Korea, which otherwise would have been 24 per cent, will be just 4.8 per cent this year, with duty-free access already scheduled for Jan. 1, 2024, officials said.
Canada’s cherries didn’t yet have access to the Korean market when CKFTA talks were underway but “it was a priority for the Canadian government and industry stakeholders to secure a tariff phase-out with a view to eventual access,” AAFC officials said, noting that negotiating access for any ag commodity is “a lengthy process that can take several years to be achieved.”
South Korea’s annual imports of fresh cherries from other countries were valued at over $208 million in 2021, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada said Aug. 10.
Canada’s annual cherry exports to other countries, meanwhile, were valued at $78 million in 2021, AAFC said.
And, “as the region in North America with the latest-growing cherries, British Columbia exporters have a competitive advantage when the cherries are ready to go to market in August and September.”
Given recent expansions in acres and production volume and rising global demand, sweet cherries have already become Canada’s second-largest exported fruit crop, behind blueberries, AAFC said, and the opening of the Korean market marks “a timely opportunity for the Canadian cherry industry to develop new business.”
“Our growers and industry partners look forward to building long-lasting relationships with Korean customers and cannot wait to see cherries branded with the maple leaf in stores across South Korea,” B.C. Cherry Association president Sukhpaul Bal said in the government’s release Aug. 10. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
