XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ab.politics   
   XPost: ont.politics, sk.politics, man.politics   
   From: "@nyet.ca   
      
   CBC News Posted: Aug 07, 2014   
      
   Pork, poultry industries brace for impact of Russians sanctions   
      
   Oil technology could be next in tit for tat of sanctions war   
      
      
   The pork industry is one of the agricultural sectors that will “feel the   
   pinchâ€� of a year-long ban on Canadian agricultural exports to Russia,   
   with as many as 1,000 containers of pork currently on the water en route   
   to Russia.   
      
   Russia imposed sanctions on Wednesday against meat, fish, milk and dairy   
   products, fruit and vegetables from Canada, the U.S., the European   
   Union, Australia and Norway.   
      
   Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the ban was a response to   
   escalating sanctions against Russia, which have already put limits on   
   currency exchange for its banks and technology exchanges.   
      
   As much as $50 million in frozen pork products may currently be in   
   transit to Russia, according to Jim Laws, executive director of the the   
   Canadian Meat Council.   
      
      
   Important market   
      
   Russia is the fourth most important market for Canadian pork, after the   
   U.S., Japan and China, and sold about $260 million of product there last   
   year, he said. That is down from about $358 million in 2012.   
      
   The industry has taken steps to work with the Russian meat industry,   
   adapting its offerings, which include boneless hams and frozen swine   
   products that cater to the Russian taste for sausage.   
      
   â€œThis is an important market for Canada indeed.  We’ve been a bit   
   worried about this for the past several weeks with tensions rising   
   between the two countries,â€� Laws told CBC News.   
      
   â€œWe hope if consumers in Russia are affected in any way in terms of   
   short supply or rising prices, the Russian government will reconsider   
   its actions,â€� he said.   
      
   Quebec-based pork and poultry supplier Olymel, which calls Russia its   
   No. 2 market, said it is going to try to find other markets for the   
   products it usually sells to Russia.   
      
      
   Poultry, beef, seafood   
      
   â€œWhile it is powerless to change the decision by the Moscow regime,   
   Olymel will make every effort to find other outlets for products that   
   were destined for the Russian market in order to reduce the impact of   
   this decision.  Olymel does not yet have full information concerning the   
   application of this measure, and is thus unable to assess the   
   consequences,â€� the company said in a statement.   
      
   Manitoba cattle producer Cheryl  McPherson is bracing for the impact, on   
   top of a labeling dispute that has cut into sales to the U.S.   
   McPherson says Russia may not be Canada's biggest market, but any   
   restriction will hurt her bottom line.   
      
   â€œIt feels like you're left out. . .  nobody realizes you're out there   
   and it's  affecting you,â€� she said.   
      
   Laws said the Canada Meat Council will work with the Russian and   
   Canadian governments to try to get the shipments of meat currently en   
   route to Russia diverted to other markets or returned to Canada.   
      
   Pork producers have been enjoying high prices as a virus that kills   
   young pigs has hurt pork production in the U.S., he said.   
      
   â€œThe only good news for us right now is pork supplies around the world   
   are very tight and farmers have been enjoying record prices for the live   
   animals – if it had to happen, this was a time it was least   
   detrimental,â€� he said.   
      
      
   Seafood producers are also likely to be hurt   
      
   "For lobster, Russia is a small but potentially good market,â€� said Geoff   
   Irvine, head of the Lobster Council of Canada.  “The biggest impact on   
   seafood in Canada will be on northern shrimp, and maybe cheaper fish   
   like Pacific hake and herring."   
      
   Clearwater Seafoods  head Ian Smith says the Russian market only   
   accounts for  three per cent of his company's annual revenue, so the   
   pain will be negligible.   
      
   â€œClearwater has a very broad portfolio of products, a broad porfolio of   
   markets and customers we deal with.  The Russian market is about our   
   frozen-at-sea coldwater shrimp and it's one of many markets we sell to.   
   ...  Do we want to be selling shrimp in Russia? Of course we do, and we   
   expect that market will come back in the future,â€� he said.   
      
      
   Oil technology could be next   
      
   But the bulk of Canada’s exports to Russia is in machinery and   
   mechanical appliances, aerospace and transport sectors, areas that have   
   not yet been hit by sanctions.   
      
   Prime Minister Stephen Harper indicated yesterday that sanctions may be   
   extended to cover the oil technology sector.   
      
   That might be a good next step, said David Gordon, a former director of   
   policy planning with the U.S. State Department, now head of research at   
   the Eurasia Group.   
      
   â€œThe U.S. in its sanctions began that already last week and the week   
   before.  The EU has gone there on gas and oil, the U.S. going to go   
   there on gas as well.  The technology is really advanced in North   
   America and so I think here is where the substantial role for Canada   
   is,â€� Gordon said in an interview with CBC’s The Lang & O’Leary Exchange.   
      
   He said he believes the restrictions on the banks and on high-tech   
   exchanges are already hurting Russia and the move to ban agricultural   
   exports may have more impact in Russia than they do in Canada.   
      
   â€œIt’s probably going to create more pain within Russia than it does for   
   any of its counterparts,â€� he said, adding “I do think for Russian   
   middle-class consumers, they’re not going to be happy about this.â€�   
      
   Gordon believes Russia will not go as far as cutting off gas supplies to   
   Europe, though it has already signed a deal to sell to China.   
      
   â€œRussia is really going to need the revenues from gas,â€� he said and   
   won’t want to frighten Asian customers.   
      
   â€œPart of what the Asians are going to watch very carefully – Is Russia   
   going to politicize the export of energy?  If the answer to that is yes,   
   that is going to make them a much less attractive partner,â€� he said.   
      
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