By Rod Nickel and Farah Master
WINNIPEG, Manitoba/HONG KONG, Sept 30 (Reuters) - The pandemic's squashing result on international travel has grounded Canadian exports of ginseng, a root widely utilized in Asia to treat everything from the common cold to Impotency Cure, at a time when health is leading of customers' minds.
Canada is the world's second-largest ginseng exporter after China, with many of its exports shipped to Hong Kong on their way to mainland China, Singapore and Taiwan.
The pandemic has actually devastated the specific niche trade, however, in another example of the virus's disruption to the worldwide food and agriculture supply chain. Outbreaks have actually likewise stopped fruit shipments, closed down meat plants and sickened migrant farm workers.
Farmers in the United States, the fourth-largest exporter, are suffering too.
A ginseng crop can use up to 5 years to grow. But even as he starts this year's harvest, Remi Van De Slyke in Norfolk County, Ontario, has a barn filled with last year's ginseng.
The problem is that travel limitations have stopped Chinese buyers from checking out to inspect the crop, which has actually depressed sales.
Canada's diplomatic strains with Beijing haven't helped, said Van De Slyke, chairman of Ontario Ginseng Growers Association.
"Everyone is locked down which's triggering us a huge problem," he stated. "We're struck in all directions here."
Across Canada, as much as 1.8 million pounds, or 20% of last year's crop, remains unsold, said Rebecca Coates, executive director of the Ontario growers association.
Canada shipped 354,305 kg worth C$ 11 million ($8.22 million)to Hong Kong from May through July this year as coronavirus infections peaked in Canada, one-third of the value from the very same period a year earlier.
Lately, some purchasers have actually been "circling like sharks" to see if they can buy for less than the production expense, Coates said.
HEALTH AWARENESS RISING
Demand in China looks strong.
A Chinese medication trader who is a veteran Canadian ginseng importer based in Xiamen city, Fujian province, says health is an even greater issue after the pandemic.
"After COVID-19, individuals's awareness for health care may increase more than before (and) we might increase our imports too," the trader stated.
Sales of Chinese-grown ginseng have increased just recently as a replacement Cure for ED costlier imports, stated a salesperson at a Chinese medication store in Baotou, Inner Mongolia.
Wholesale importers have actually been understood to acquire as much as 100,000 pounds of ginseng separately at Ontario-based Great Mountain Ginseng, which was forced to shut its retailers, consisting of one at Niagara Falls, throughout spring lockdowns.
The stores have resumed, but the purchasers and tourists have not come back, stated basic manager Schelling Yeh.
"We have actually been struck hard," Yeh stated. "If you're not able to see the item are you ready to buy it?"
Canada's farming ministry is trying to help the ginseng sector diversify to other markets, spokesperson James Watson stated.
Across the border, the majority of U.S. ginseng is grown in Wisconsin. President Donald Trump, who is running for re-election on Nov. 3, kept in mind farmers' pain as he announced a new round of pandemic aid in the battleground state.
But Trump's disputes with Chinese leadership over trade problems have actually done more to dissuade U.S. sales to China than the coronavirus crisis, said Wisconsin farmer Mike Burmeister.
"Chinese trade is so important to my industry. The world actually is a small location when it pertains to ginseng." ($1 = 1.3389 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Farah Master in Hong Kong; extra reporting by Shivani Singh in Beijing and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
