Swift Current MLA participates in trade mission to India
Tariffs on Saskatchewan pulse crops was one of many discussion points during Premier Scott Moe's first trade mission to India.
Swift Current MLA Everett Hindley, who was appointed in May as the legislative secretary to the minister of trade and export development, accompanied the premier on the week-long trip during the last week of November.
One of the key goals of the trade mission was to improve market access for Saskatchewan exports to India.
“India is Saskatchewan's third largest trading partner right now and the bulk of that is in the form of lentils, peas and chickpeas as well,” Hindley noted.
Pulse growers in Saskatchewan have experienced challenges with the export of their crops to India due to fumigation requirements for Canadian pulses and the imposition of tariffs. According to Hindley this has resulted in a decline in the export of pulses from Saskatchewan to India.
India has increased tariffs on pulse imports a number of times since last year. The current tariff rates are 50 per cent on peas, 33 per cent on lentils, and 66 per cent on the desi chickpea variety. There is a 44 per cent tariff on the kabuli chickpea variety, and 97 per cent of exports from Saskatchewan are this variety.
India's current trade commitments towards the World Trade Organization (WTO) allows it to impose tariffs up to a certain level without notification.
India can increase tariffs without the need to notify the World Trade Organization (WTO) as long as it does not exceed its current trade commitments, which include an upper tariff limit. India can impose a maximum tariff of 100 per cent on chickpeas and lentils and 50 per cent on peas.
India is requiring fumigation of pulse imports from Canada as a means to reduce the risk of introducing crop pests into the country, but Hindley feels confident this matter can be resolved soon through the provision of relevant information by Canadian authorities to show that imports from Canada do not pose any risks.
“I think it's safe to say we're pretty close in hopefully finding some sort of resolution on that by the end of the calendar year,” he mentioned. “That's a science based thing where they're looking at perhaps extending the exemption here for Saskatchewan pulses when it comes to the fumigation.”
He is not so upbeat about the prospect of resolving the tariff issue between Canada and India in the near future.
“On the issue of the pulse tariffs, I'm not sure if we're going to see any resolution of that in the immediate future,” he said. “The reason for that being that Indian farmers themselves are producing a number of pulse crops. They've got a lot of production within their own border. So there isn't a need necessarily to import Saskatchewan pulses at this time ... The other issue associated with that is it's a bit of a political issue in India too. Prime Minister Modi is getting set for an election this coming spring. So realistically I don't anticipate any changes happening before that.”
The Canadian government will take the lead on this tariff issue, but the Saskatchewan government will give assistance wherever it can.
“This is obviously a big export market for us provincially,” he said. “Whatever efforts that we can provide that would help with the federal government's case, we're more than willing to do that. We work closely with the federal government to try and advance not just Saskatchewan's interests, but Canada's interests as well.”
Hindley noted that Premier Moe had a clear message of cooperation and partnership during meetings with decision-makers and stakeholders in India. He emphasized Saskatchewan's longstanding relationship with India, both with regard to the export of pulse crops and other trade activities. For example, Canpotex has been shipping Saskatchewan potash to India since 1972.
“So the message was that we want to be able to work together between our two countries and the province of Saskatchewan and the government of India to try to find some sort of long-term reliable system where there's a bit more stability in terms of the exports that go back and forth,” Hindley said.
Some of the other goals of this trade mission were to promote opportunities for uranium and potash exports from Saskatchewan to India, to strengthen the postsecondary connections between Saskatchewan and India, and to promote Saskatchewan as an attractive investment destination.
“I think there's a potential for some growth when it comes to that,” he said about investment from India in Saskatchewan.
The premier had opportunities to speak to Indian business leaders during the trade mission. There was a round table session with a group of influential industry leaders and during the first part of the trip the premier as a keynote speaker at the Indo-Canadian Business Chamber annual national convention in New Delhi. They were in Mumbai for the second part of the trip, where the premier participated in the Canada-India Business Council's 8th annual Mumbai Business Forum.
“Whenever we travel on these trade missions and have meetings with ministers and department heads and industry leaders, we always invite them to come back to Saskatchewan to tour here and to see what we're doing,” he said.
Saskatchewan has exported over $11 billion of goods to India during the past decade. Exports from Saskatchewan to India is the highest of all the provinces and territories. These exports were valued at $1.15 billion in 2017. Saskatchewan's main exports to India are potash, uranium, lentils and peas, and about 4,550 jobs rely on these exports.