COOL's negative impacts continue on Canada's pork industry

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

by SUSAN MANN

The Canadian pork industry has been hit with a US$2 billion sledge hammer since 2008.

That’s the year the United States implemented its mandatory Country of Origin Labelling  (COOL) law that required American retailers to label various meat products with their country of origin. The direct impact on hog producers calculated from official live trade data has amounted to more than US$1.9 billion as of October 2012 and could easily reach $2 billion by the end of the year (2012), according a report by economist Ron Gietz commissioned by the Canadian Pork Council.

The report says “complicated rules for labelling and the exclusion of Canadian-born livestock from the ‘product of USA’ label have massively reduced live swine exports from Canada to the U.S.”

There are other impacts in addition to the financial hit to live trade, including an additional $357 million in damages for lost pork trade since the implementation of COOL and a further $85 million in price suppression in the feeder pig trade. Additional damages from slaughter hog price suppression and indirect impacts from a reduced sow herd weren’t calculated at this time, the report says.

The report notes the negative impacts to Canada’s pork industry began in early 2008 when it became clear the United States planned to implement COOL. Negative impacts continue currently “even after a successful challenge of the law” at the World Trade Organization. That body has given the United States until May 23 to retool its COOL law after ruling earlier the legislation violates America’s trade obligations.

But faced with continuing large damages, Canada’s pork industry is looking for a timely resolution to the dispute and an end to the damaging trade restrictions as soon as possible, the report says.

Officials with the Canadian Pork Council and Ontario Pork couldn’t be reached for comment. BF