Canada wins wider pet food access in China and extends its canola meal deal

Canada has finalised an updated arrangement giving its pet food makers wider access to China and confirmed a two-year extension of a preliminary deal covering canola meal and peas, after a trade mission led by Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Heath MacDonald, Farms.com reported.

It was MacDonald's third mission to China. In Beijing he met Agriculture Minister Zhang Zhu to discuss cooperation on soil health, animal health and genetics, building on the revived Joint Agriculture Committee between the two ministries, and he attended the China International Import Expo in Shanghai. China remains one of Canada's most important farm markets: exports of agriculture, agri-food, fish and seafood there were worth $6.7 billion in 2025.

The most concrete result came from talks with Sun Meijun, minister of China's General Administration of Customs. The updated pet food arrangement, which Ottawa values at a potential $530 million, now allows ruminant ingredients as well as poultry and covers processed and canned pet food, treats and chews. China was Canada's second-largest pet food market before restrictions on Canadian pet food containing poultry were imposed in 2021; Canada exported about $1 billion of dog and cat food worldwide in 2025.

With International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu, MacDonald also briefed farm groups on the two-year extension of the Preliminary Joint Arrangement, which covers Canadian canola meal and peas as well as lobster and crab. The government said the extension is meant to give farmers and exporters more certainty and predictability.

Canola dominates the trade. Canadian canola seed exports to China reached $1.5 billion in 2025, the largest single farm and food export to the country at 21.9 per cent of the sector's sales there, followed by wheat at $1.2 billion, soybeans at $971.7 million, barley at $504.7 million, pork at $315.1 million and canola meal at $288.2 million.

MacDonald also met Chinese industry representatives, among them China Oil and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO) and Beijing Capital Agribusiness & Food Group.

Photo: Kjfmartin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Source: Farms.com