Premier Scott Moe led a trade mission to China last week focusing on growing Saskatchewan’s trade opportunities and showcasing our food, fuel and fertilizer sectors. 

He says “With the growing uncertainty in world trade, the Chinese market is becoming increasingly important to Saskatchewan."

The Province says a number of key steps were made in sharing Saskatchewan’s technical innovation, including supporting the signing of an MOU between the CCS Knowledge Centre and the China Petroleum University to advance our shared interest in using CCS for enhanced oil recovery.

Swift Current MLA Everett Hindley was also on the trip as the Legislative Secretary for Trade and Export Development.

Hindley says China is our second largest trading partner for the Province, especially in the area of Agri-foods.

“We’re the largest supplier of yellow peas to China, largest supplier of flaxseed, the largest supplier of canola seed, the largest supplier of canola meal and second largest supplier of Canola oil. We’re behind Alberta when it comes to those particular exports but our province just has enormous production capacity.”

Saskatchewan is well positioned to help China’s growing food market consumption with 1.4 billion people and a growing middle-class population.

He notes the group had positive feedback from the Chinese when it came to our agri-food sector. 

“Folks that we were talking to on the trade mission in terms of some of the companies that we met with and the importers from China seemed to have an increasing interest in flaxseed. So, there’s some potential for that sector for our Province, whether it’s exporting seeds directly to China or perhaps some value-added products like flax oil that sort of a thing.”

The Premier’s Trade Mission to China also involved a STEP delegation including industry representatives from the Province’s Agriculture, Agri-value, Manufacturing and Ag-Biotech sectors.