Canada is one of the world's largest food exporters, and the success of the Canadian agriculture sector depends heavily on theirability to export our high-quality products to other countries.
To support Canadian agri-food companies in reaching these markets, today, Francis Drouin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, announced up to $5.5 million over 3 years to Group Export Agri-Food Québec-Canada through the AgriMarketing Program, an initiative under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership.
Founded in 1990, Group Export is the link between exporters and markets outside of Quebec. With more than 450 members, Group Export is the largest association of agri-food exporters in Canada. Group Export's project activities will focus on promotion in the following markets: Canada, the United States, Germany, Spain, China, Mexico, France, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Australia, and India. The markets covered by the project were selected based on sales growth for agri-food products.
This investment will allow Group Export to provide support to companies entering a foreign market for the first time as well as those currently trading in foreign markets. The objectives of the project activities are to enable Canadian companies to promote their agri-food products abroad, to secure concrete sales and contracts in their target markets, and to increase the value of international agri-food exports in all categories of agri-food products.
Group Export's project activities include facilitating business meetings, supporting attendance at trade shows, providing technical training, and organizing trade missions.
"Thanks to the hard work of Canadian producers, processors, and exporters, our agriculture and food exports reached nearly $100 billion last year. I want to keep that momentum going and make Canada the supplier of choice for customers around the world. I have no doubt that this important investment will give Canadian agri-food exporters the support they need to get their top-quality products on even more kitchen tables", said Lawnce MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food