The Canola Council of Canada says plant health experts from Canada and China still haven’t met face-to-face to discuss Chinese concerns about Canadian canola exports – more than a month after a trade feud over canola seed exports erupted between the two countries.

“As time ticks by, uncertainty is growing and income that drives our economy is being lost,” Jim Everson, the council’s president, said in a release. “These are extraordinary circumstances that will require significant extra effort to resolve.”

Canada and China have been embroiled in an ongoing battle over canola exports since early March, when the Chinese government pulled the canola export licence from one of Canada’s largest grain companies, Richardson International Ltd., citing pest concerns.

A second Canadian grain company – Glencore Canada’s Viterra– had it’s export licences revoked at the end of March. Chinese importers have also stopped purchasing canola.

The Canadian government formally requested travel permission via two letters for a delegation of plant health experts, led by the president of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, at the end of March.

The first letter was sent from Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau to her Chinese counterpart Agriculture Minister Han Changfu. The second letter was sent from Dr. Siddika Mithani, who was appointed CIFA president on Feb. 27, to her respective Chinese counterpart.

Chinese officials have acknowledged receipt of those letters. However, no delegation has yet travelled to China.

Bibeau has also created a working group that includes officials from the Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba governments, the canola industry – including the Canola Council of Canada and the Canadian Canola Growers Association, Richardson International, and Viterra.

The group has been holding weekly meetings since it was formed on April 1. An in-person working group meeting is set for later this week in Manitoba.

No Canadian minister has called their respective Chinese counterpart to discuss the trade feud. Both Bibeau and International Trade Minister Jim Carr have insisted they want to keep discussions science-based in order to avoid potential escalation.

On Wednesday, Everson urged Canadian and Chinese officials “to engage genuinely to resolve this dispute as quickly as possible.”

Canada’s response, he stressed, should include appointing a Canadian ambassador to China and a review of “all diplomatic, technical and legal tools to engage Chinese officials in resuming trade.”

Those actions are identical to suggestions put forward by the council during emergency parliamentary committee meetings on the subject earlier this month.

The Canola Council’s news release comes the same day Bloomberg reported Chinese agriculture officials were warning Canadian canola imports could drop further because of heightened inspections on Canadian canola imports.

About 40 per cent of the canola Canada exports is sent to China, a market that in 2018 was valued at $2.7 billion.