EXCLUSIVE-Canada farm minister informed that China has blocked two Canadian pork exporters

Canada's agriculture minister said on Wednesday that her department officials have told her the Chinese government has suspended the export permits of two Canadian pork exporters, both based in Quebec. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said in an interview with Reuters that she has not yet received an official notice from China of the permit suspensions, and would not identify the companies involved.

"We have to look into this," she said by phone from Ottawa. "It might be only administrative. We might be able to deal with the situation easily. I can’t speculate on why the permits have been suspended." Canada-China ties turned icy last December when police in Vancouver arrested Huawei Technologies Co Ltd Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. warrant.

Since then, China has arrested two Canadians and halted canola imports from two Canadian companies. Bibeau said she did not know when the pork permit suspensions took effect.

Last week, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said some Canadian pork shipments to China had been delayed because exporters used outdated forms that certify the cargoes meet Chinese requirements. (Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; editing by Diane Craft and G Crosse)