Canada has consistently supported all anti-Russian sanctions. The cooperation between Russia and Canada has practically ceased. Yet, Russia finds ways to repay such a policy in a way that Canada does not expect, an article published on Chinese Internet platform NetEase says.
It goes about the supplies of… peas.
China is one of the largest consumers and importers of peas. Last year, China imported 2.68 million tons of this agricultural crop. The volume of pea supplies exceeded the volume of rice imports to the Celestial Empire.
Until recently, Canada was the leading supplier of peas to China. China was getting more than a half of total pea supplies from Canada, but Canada started losing its positions last year. The quality and prices of Russian agricultural products turned out to be so attractive that Chinese companies began to switch to supplies from Russia. Canada did not expect that at all, the article says.
Russia is capable of ousting Canada from the Chinese market. It is worthy of note that Russian products are GMO-free, which is another huge advantage that Russia has before Canada.
The article on the Chinese website confirms how big the competition is now in the Chinese agricultural market between Russia and agricultural suppliers from the USA, Australia, and Canada.
Chinese companies earlier refused to purchase about 1.5 million tons of wheat from the USA and Australia. At the same time, China has been increasing wheat imports from Russia, although there is still a lot of room for development there.
In 2023, Russia and China signed an agreement on the supply of 70 million tons of grain worth $25.7 billion as part of the New Overland Grain Corridor initiative. Deliveries are to be carried out over the course of 12 years.