Canadian agribusiness signed various trade deals and memorandums of understanding with Chinese counterparts earlier this week in an effort to enhance agricultural trade between the two countries.
One example was a C$200 million ($187 million; €137 million) deal by Prairie Orchard Farms, producer of omega-3 fortified pork, to sell omega-3 feed and transfer technology in China.
Opinion from the investment community was supportive of the recent deals; China’s increased agricultural needs provide great opportunity for Canadian agriculture and agtech industries, Mike Raymont, chief executive of Canadian agtech investment company AVAC told Agri Investor.
“As China and the world’s food demands continue to increase, there will be increasing pressure on global food supplies, along with added constraints on agricultural productivity. We believe that applying innovation and technology to the ag sector will be necessary to addressing these challenges,” he said.
“At AVAC, we believe this creates an enormous opportunity for investment in ag and ag technology ventures in Canada in areas such as novel crops, seed traits, biomass, precision farming, animal health and nutrition, food preservation/spoilage technologies, biologicals, water, and food/farm management systems,” he added.
China is Canada’s second most valuable agriculture export market; it was valued at C$5.6 billion in 2013, according to a press release from the Canadian government.
The Canadian agriculture minister, Gerry Ritz, emphasised the commercial importance of the signings. “This mission continues to give the Canadian agriculture industry the chance to secure deals that will translate into increased demand of our producers’ and processors’ top-quality products,” he said in the press release.
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