Demand for Canadian soybeans grows amidst tsunami disaster

Thursday, March 17, 2011

by PAT CURRIE

The earthquake/tsunami disaster that has overtaken Japan during the past week may mean a boost for Canadian soybean exports to the battered island nation.

"It’s going to have a really positive impact," said Brad Chandler, general manager of Blenheim-based Thompsons Limited. Thompson’s is Canada’s largest exporter of beans. Japan is the world’s largest importer of Canadian-grown, protein-rich soybeans, importing up to 400,000 tonnes annually.

Exports to Japan will grow sharply, he predicted. "It’s a staple of the Japanese diet," he explained.
 
Chandler’s prediction contrasts with this week’s sharp drop in prices for soybeans, corn and wheat on the Chicago Board of Trade. Analysts blame the two-day drop, the biggest since 1987, on concern that the earthquake and nuclear crisis in Japan will reduce raw-material demand. Japan is the world’s leading buyer of corn, the third-largest importer of soybeans and the fifth-biggest purchaser of wheat.

Chandler noted the growth won’t happen immediately because damage to processing plants and warehouses will have short-term repercussions.

Long-term effects on soybean exports to Japan will become apparent later because it takes four to six weeks for Canadian shipments to reach the main distribution port of Yokohama, he said.

Chandler said his company has had a relationship with Japan for 30 years. “We have lost friends in this disaster."

Meanwhile, exports of pork to Japan have been affected principally because the country’s distribution system has been thrown into chaos because of shortages of motor-transport fuel – gasoline and diesel oil – and disruption of the electricity grid that powers much of the railroad system.

"It’s too soon to gauge the real impact," said Gary Stordy, speaking for the Ottawa-based Canadian Pork Council.

"From what I have been hearing, nobody over there is over-reacting, so we don’t have anything concrete to go on at this point," Stordy said.

Importing more than 277,000 tonnes of pork (in 2009) worth some $865 million, Japan is the biggest buyer of Canada’s pork exports after the United States, according to Canada Pork International. Although its import total is less, the per-unit value of sales to Japan is higher – in fact the highest in any importing market.

A vigourous sales push boosted exports to Japan by 63.6 per cent in the first 10 months of 2010 over the same time span a year earlier. Most shipments go to the ports of Tokyo and Osaka, 200 kilometres south the tsunami-devastated area around the city of Sendai. BF