India has refused to extend an exemption that allowed Canadian beans and peas to be fumigated after they were shipped there. Canadian farmers don’t use the pesticide methyl bromide because it doesn’t work well in the cold and it is bad for the ozone layer.
While the Canadian government tries to come up with a solution, some shippers have already begun to refuse cargoes of pulses bound for India because the exemption is likely to expire in March before they can be delivered.
One-third of Canadian pulse exports are sent to India, so loss of that market could represent $1.5 billion.
Canada’s agriculture minister is set to travel to India next week.
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