meant to be phased out in 15 to 17 years.8 For diary, poultry and egg products both
countries maintain the application of tariffs for quantities exceeding a certain quota.
Canadian imports from Chile have been increasing since the FTA was signed. Imports
grew by 86 percent between 1996 and 2004 and almost doubled by 2005 (Table 1). Chile’s
share of the Canadian import market has also been growing over the past 11 years, it increased
by 33 percent, one of the largest increases among all South American countries. This growth
has varied across different products: Chilean exports to Canada increased the most in edible
fruits, but also in areas such as beverages, cereals and fish products (Table 2). This is not
surprising since most of these categories are characterized by immediate elimination of all
tariffs upon implementation of CCFTA.
As for the advantages afforded by the CCFTA to the Canadian exporters of agricultural
products to Chile, the situation looks very different, as Figure 1 shows. The total value of
Canadian exports to Chile decreased by 60 percent until 2004 and by almost 66 percent by
2006, from around $165 million to just over $55 million at the end of the period. As Table 1
shows, Canadian exports uniformly declined with respect to most Latin American partners,
while the growth with the rest of the world stayed strong. One of the most dramatic decreases
in Canadian exports to Chile, post 1996, was for exports of cereals, from around $150 million
to less than $34 million. This sub-sector in fact can be seen to drive the overall decrease, due
to its overwhelming share of the total: cereals account for over 90 percent of total Canadian
agricultural exports to Chile, with the proportion decreasing to just over 60 percent in 2006,
back to its 1992 levels. On the other hand many other product categories have been areas
8 Source: Agriculture and Agrifood Canada web site http://www.agr.gc.ca/misb/itpd/english/trade_agr/ccfta.htm.)