Ontario seeking new agri-food trade opportunities in India

Jeff Leal, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and Michael Chan, Minister of International Trade, arrived in India to lead Ontario's first-ever agri-food trade mission, attracting new investment and continuing to grow the agri-food sector globally.

The ministers, along with 19 delegates from Ontario agri-food businesses, will meet with Indian business leaders in New Delhi, Mumbai and Chandigarh to showcase Ontario's cutting-edge agri- technology and products and identify new opportunities for greater agri-food trade and exports.

This mission will also help Ontario meet the Premier's Agri-Food Growth Challenge by promoting increased trade and investment in the province's agri-food sector.

As the second-most populous country in the world with over 1.2 billion people, India is fast-becoming a major global economic player, with a large and rapidly growing domestic market.

In 2015, two-way goods trade between Ontario and India totalled $2.4 billion.

The grocery food market in India is worth more than $332 billion, with projections that it will become the fourth-largest such market in the world by the year 2020.

Ontario is making great progress to meet the Premier’s Agri-Food Challenge. The Premier’s Agri-Food Growth Challenge to double the growth of the sector and create 120,000 jobs by 2020. Since launching the Challenge, the industry has added more than $1.3 billion in GDP and over 30,000 jobs.