Canadian lobster exporters are diversifying with NAFTA negotiations looking uncertain. They say negotiations are hurting their operations and are now looking at markets overseas, and it’s working to their …
By ANA SWANSON, NOV. 12, 2017
Originally published on NYTimes.com
Gary Zwicker and other workers sorting lobsters at Gidney Fisheries in Centreville, Nova Scotia. The factory processes 10,000 to 15,000 lobsters a day. Credit Stephanie Foden for The New York Times
CENTREVILLE, Nova Scotia — This lobster factory on a windswept bay in eastern Canada is so remote that its workers have to drive for miles just to get cellphone service. But Gidney Fisheries is truly global, with its lobsters landing on plates in Paris and Shanghai through trade agreements hammered out in far-off capitals.
Of late, these trade pacts have been shifting in the factory’s favor, giving it an advantage over its American competitors.
A new trade agreement between Canada and the European Union has slashed tariffs on imports of Canadian lobsters. That means more 747s filled with Christmas-red crustaceans will depart from Nova Scotia for European markets this winter — and more revenue will flow to Gidney Fisheries. The factory, which in the 1800s sent its lobsters to Boston by steamship, is flush with potential as it gains access to new markets and plans to increase its work force by roughly 50 percent, adding dozens of positions to its current payroll of around 85 workers.
“For us, free trade is a good thing,” said Robert MacDonald, the president of Gidney Fisheries, which processes 10,000 to 15,000 lobsters a day.
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Gidney Fisheries is pleased to be featured in one of Canada’s leading wood technology publications, the Canadian Wood Council’s “Wood WORKS!” Industrial Buildings Fall edition. Click here to access …
Nova Scotia Business Inc. along with its partners and sponsors will present The Nova Scotia Export Achievement Awards, an annual celebration and recognition of excellence in exporting across Nova …
