Will Saskatchewan farmers feel the B.C. port strike?

A port strike in B.C. is sending ripples into Saskatchewan and has the potential to change the cost of wheat exports for the province.

On July 1, more than 7,000 workers from the ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Vancouver Island hit the picket lines while negotiating with federal ministers.

Some $800 million worth of goods flow into and out of Canada through B.C.’s ports every day, representing roughly a quarter of the country’s total imports and exports.

Brett Halstead, chair of Sask Wheat said it’s too early to tell how exactly how farmers in the province will be affected but it could back up export sales.

“If disruption lasts long enough and it affects the wheat shipping and everything obviously starts backing up, eventually there will be no way to buy and ship grain to the west coast,” Halstead said.

He said the busiest season is usually right after harvest time in August right up until the Christmas season, but there are still ongoing operations that could be shifted by the strike.

“It does move year-round; there isn’t a part of the season where nothing moves so every month and week is important for wheat sales and products.”

Saskatchewan produces an average of 15 million tonnes of wheat a year. Halstead said Canada exports about 75 per cent of country-wide production product to 80 different countries.

“The longer this goes, the more dire the situation could become so we hope for a settlement as soon as possible both for producers as well as the general economy to keep goods and services flowing smoothly,” Halstead said.

“It is a little bit early, so I don’t want to ring fire bells if it’s not needed but it’s just general concern during any disruption. We watch it carefully.”

Associate economics professor Jason Childs at the University of Regina said a timeline of when Saskatchewan might see large-scale disruptions will vary by industry.

“Inventory management is going to be affected fairly quickly and maybe is starting to be affected now or very soon,” Childs said. “Other industry where they typically have a lot of inventory built up, that isn’t going to bother them very much.”

He said it would take those industries two to three weeks to notice disruptions.

“A huge portion of this strike is due to the inflation over the last few years. This reconciliation has got to come through wages, we’ve seen prices of consumer goods increase dramatically and wages not keep pace,” Childs said.

— with files from Global News’ Amy Judd

3:15 BC port strike: Workers’ union hoped to have ‘better announcement,’ yet to come to agreement