Watch the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service highlight the advantages of the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement (CKFTA) for Canadian agri-food and seafood exporters.
Video transcript
[Quick, electronic music begins.]
[An aerial shot of Seoul. Text appears on a blue bar over the video.]
Text on screen: Canadian Agri-Food Trade Commissioners
[New text replaces the old text.]
Text on screen: Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement
[Cut to Tommy Couture. Text appears on a blue bar beneath him.]
Text on screen: Tommy Couture Trade Commissioner, Agriculture and Agri-Food
Tommy Couture: The Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement, CKFTA, is the first Canadian FTA in the Asia-Pacific region.
[Cut to a shipyard at sunset.]
That agreement has been implemented on January 1st, 2015, [Text appears.]
Text on screen: Implemented on January 1st, 2015
[Cut to factory workers handling fish.]
…and today, around 93% of the Canadian products are duty-free.
[Cut to a man operating a forklift.]
And when the agreement will be fully implemented, it will be nearly 100% of the product will be duty-free.
[Cut to an aerial view of a shipyard of shipping crates. Text covers the screen.]
Text on screen: Virtually all Canadian products duty free
[The text fades into a shot of a wheat field. Cut to wheat grains pooling in cupped hands.]
One of the advantages of that agreement is for the grain and oilseed sector.
[Cut back to Tommy Couture.]
The duties were about 400 to 500% for those commodities, so now it will be a big gain for the Canadian exporter.
[Cut to a canola field.]
Canada has exported around 100 million dollars of canola to Korea last year.
Canada has exported around 100 million dollars of canola oil to Korea last year.
[Cut to bottle of oil on a conveyor belt. Text appears.]
Text on screen: Canola exports in 2016 $100 Million
[The image switches to a factory worker at a packaging station.]
[The image changes to a hand brushing canola in a field.]
[Cut to an image of hemp seeds. Text appears.]
Text on screen: Hemp seeds exports in 2016 $43 Million
Canada exported in 2016 more than 43 million dollars of hemp seeds, so it’s a big gain.
[Cut to a fishing boat.]
The lobsters are a really good example of a good success we have had in Korea.
[Cut to fishermen pulling up a lobster trap. Cut to a timelapse of a plane being loaded.]
We have now a weekly flight leaving Halifax to Seoul, and now South Korea is used as a hub to deliver to the rest of Asia.
[Cut to an animation of the globe, with glowing lines extending out from Asia.]
As of September 30th, 2017, we have already surpassed last year’s export of live lobsters that…
[Cut to a hand grabbing lobsters in a tank. Text appears.]
Text on screen: Live lobster exports in 2017
… were more than 40 million Canadian dollars.
[The text changes.]
Text on screen: +$40 Million
[Cut to factory bins of lobsters.]
So, more than 80% of Canadian fish and seafood products entered duty-free into South Korea since the entry into force of the CKFTA.
[Cut to a fishing boat.]
[Cut to bags of sea urchins.]
Canadian sea urchin, frozen lobsters, and salmon…
[Cut to factory workers handling salmon.]
… are now entering South Korea duty-free since the entry into force of the agreement.
[Cut to a fisherman reeling in a net.]
Tariffs on live and the prepared Dungeness crab and lobsters are now gone since 2017.
[Cut to crabs in crab trap, then to a hand picking up a lobster from a tank.]
[Cut to shrimp sizzling on a grill. Then to piles of clams. Then to a tank of sea cucumbers.]
Eventually, prepared shrimp, prawn, clams, and sea cucumbers will be tariff free by 2019
[Cut to a timelapse of people walking down a market street.]
Our trade commissioner service in Seoul is working closely with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to help Canadian companies to take advantage of the CKFTA.
[Text covers the screen.]
Text on screen: CKFTA
[Cut back to Tommy Couture.]
I am Tommy Couture. I am a trade commissioner based in Seoul. So if you have any interest for the Korean market, make sure you give me a call.
[Cut to the Korean flag. Then cut to a timelapse of Seoul. Text appears over the screen on a blue bar.]
Text on screen: Contact us today
[The text changes.]
Text on screen: tradecommissioner.gc.ca
[Cut to the Canada wordmark.]
Text on screen: (c) Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food (2017)
[The quick, electronic music fades out.]
[Fade to black.]