With more than 50 per cent of its products sold on the export market, the Canadian pork industry is particularly dependent on trade.

Meeting demands for export markets will be among the topics discussed next week as part of the 2010 Banff Pork Seminar.

Canada Pork International executive director, Jacques Pomerleau, says C$17 million allocated last August by the federal government for use over the next four years under the International Pork Marketing Fund will be used to further develop markets for Canadian pork.

Jacques Pomerleau – Canada Pork International

The international Pork Marketing Fund is to maintain and improve market access to all foreign markets, also to diversify our ourselves on many of the markets but especially to differentiate the Canadian pork industry from its major competitors notably the United States and also to add value to our exports over time.

We still have to finalize our strategic plan but more or less you could count on seeing generic campaigns taking place, more branding by individual companies, more market intelligence reports.

More or less it's the type of activities to promote and to support the promotion of our products world-wide and in selected markets especially.

Mr Pomerleau says the first version of the strategic plan will be submitted to the federal agriculture minister at the end of this month.

He notes CPI has been the beneficiary of financial assistance from the federal government over the years and the record has shown that kind of assistance is very effective with returns in the hundreds of dollars on each dollar invested.