Summary
Reuters – The pandemic’s crushing effect on international travel has grounded Canadian exports of ginseng, a root widely used in Asia to treat everything from the common cold to impotency, at a time when health is top of consumers’ minds.
Canada is the world’s second-largest ginseng exporter after China, with most of its exports shipped to Hong Kong on their way to mainland China, Singapore and Taiwan.
Outbreaks have also stopped fruit shipments, shut down meat plants and sickened migrant farm workers.
Farmers in the United States, the fourth-largest exporter, are suffering too.
