While speaking at Cameco, Trade and Export Development Minister Jeremy Harrison stated that going on international trade missions pays off. He says Saskatchewan exported nearly $50 billion worth of products last year to 163 countries and in the fourth quarter of this past fiscal year, Saskatchewan’s international office network represented over thirty exporters, resulting in an estimated 190 trade deals with sales over $7 million.

He highlighted one situation where if there hadn’t been a meeting face to face, there may never have been a resolution. Harrison explains that Vietnam was interested in buying wheat, moving away from reliance on Russia, but there was a phytosanitary issue that needed to be resolved first. However, according to Minister Harrison, the federal government was leveraging the resolution of the wheat import issue, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, for $150,000 worth of blueberries from Prince Edward Island.

The issue was resolved. Harrison says, “We went from zero last year to nearly $200 million of wheat export because we were there and if we had not been there we would never have known this was the issue.”

He also gave the example of the Saskatchewan United Arab Emirates Office attending a groundbreaking ceremony of the partnership between Adroit Overseas and Al Amir Foods’ new Agri Terminals in Dubai. This affects Saskatchewan, Harrison explains, because Al Amir is one of UAE’s largest importers of Saskatchewan pulses.

Potash exports in 2023 increase by 7.4 per cent compared to 2022, at 22.7 million metric tons. Crude oil exports increased by 3.3 per cent to 19.7 million cubic meters and wheat exports increased by 48 per cent to 11.9 million metric tons.