The
national agency for chicken is calling for a huge production increase
this winter.
It
has set the quota allocation for December and January seven per cent
higher than last year.
For
Jan. 21 to March 17, the increase is five per cent.
In
accordance with a new market-sharing deal reached last year, the
increases for Ontario are 7.9 and 5.7 per cent.
“The
Canadian chicken market is responding to shifting sources of supply
and finding a new equilibrium,” says the Chicken Farmers of Ontario
marketing board on its website.
“The
sharp reduction in ‘fowl’ imports experienced over the past year
has created an increased demand which is now being filled by domestic
chicken.”
After
years of complaints from the national agency, the federal government
finally cracked down on imports to determine that only fowl was being
imported under that tariff-line category, and not broiler chicken
which should be heavily taxed with import duties designed to protect
supply management
