Noodles have been a treasured food staple in China for nearly 4,000 years, but recent demand for high-quality pasta has grown. According to the World Instant Noodles Association, China was the world’s largest instant noodle consumer at 43.8 billion servings in 2024. Over the last decade, however, a shift has taken place as pasta has been adopted alongside traditional noodles and gained market share. Trade experts agree this shift has the potential to hugely impact CWAD exports.

Canada has seen a growing number of positive tests for COVID-19 among employees at meat processing facilities, which has resulted in slowdowns and closures. This has been most pronounced in Alberta where the Cargill plant in High River is to resume production May 4 following a two-week shutdown. In contrast, agri-food processors have fared much better. Just as seed plants, elevators and farm-to-export transportation links have weathered the pandemic remarkably well, grain-reliant food manufacturers have continued to function, even upping production to meet an aggressive surge in consumer demand.