(Resource News International) — The price outlook for canaryseed in Western Canada has taken a turn for the worse, given news that the government of Mexico has begun enforcing weed seed quarantines.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency received notice from Mexico on June 23 that all imports of Canadian canaryseed will be held and tested for the presence of quarantine weed seeds, according to Kevin Hursh, executive director for the Canaryseed Development Commission of Saskatchewan.
Mexico was specifically looking for wild buckwheat and has indicated that the detection of just one wild buckwheat seed will result in rejection of the canaryseed shipment, he said.
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“The CFIA has indicated that it is not capable of meeting the zero tolerance the Mexican government plans to enforce,” Hursh said.
The CFIA tests every consignment for weed seeds prior to issuing a phytosanitary certificate, but it cannot make any guarantees that would meet the zero tolerance requirement.
Canadian government and industry officials have been in contact with the Mexican government in an effort to better understand why the zero tolerance is now being enforced, despite the fact it has been a law for quite some time.
“The Mexican regulation has been in place for as long as Canadian canaryseed has been shipped to the country,” he said.
There was speculation by Canada’s special crop industry that the move by Mexico was designed to be a price spoiler, as values for canaryseed in Western Canada will drop significantly, especially with Mexico being a key destination for the product.
During calendar years 2007 to 2009, Canada has exported an average of 173,000 tonnes of canaryseed, for which Mexico was the top customer, importing 41,000 tonnes of that total on an annual basis.
“We know end-users in Mexico want to continue bringing in Canadian canaryseed, so the process now lies in trying to understand why the decision was made by the Mexican government to begin enforcing the rule,” Hursh said.
No western Canadian exporter will want to take a chance of having a shipment of canaryseed rejected, so essentially all exports have now been stopped, he said.
Canaryseed values delivered to the elevator in western Canada have already fallen to the 13.5 to 14 cents per pound level from 16.5 to 20 cents seen earlier in the week, based on Prairie Ag Hotwire data.
