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New Zealand dairy industry raises concerns over Trans-Pacific Partnership access

Xinhua, June 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

Representatives of New Zealand' s pillar dairy industry on Wednesday said they would withhold support for the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal if it failed to include a good deal on dairy.

The Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ) said it was firm in its view that a good deal on dairy was necessary for any TPP deal to stack up for New Zealand.

"The facts are that dairy accounts for 35 percent of New Zealand exports. You can't even come close to achieving an acceptable deal for New Zealand without a good deal on dairy," DCANZ chairman Malcolm Bailey said in a statement.

DCANZ represented the common policy interests of 11 New Zealand dairy companies, including the giant Fonterra cooperative, accounting for 98 percent of milk processed.

"There is no evidence that other countries in the negotiation have backed away from their major export interests, so there is no way New Zealand should back away from ours," said Bailey.

"We understand Japan continues to push for complete tariff elimination for automobile trade, which accounts for a similar percentage of Japanese trade, as dairy does for New Zealand. The removal of barriers for autos is important for them, and achieving liberalization on dairy is important to us."

The full DCANZ executive committee had conveyed their concerns to the government at a meeting in Wellington last week.

"We have been very clear about the need for good outcomes for dairy if we are to support the TPP deal," said Bailey.

Trade Minister Tim Groser and Prime Minister John Key have both said the TPP did not yet include an acceptable deal on dairy products.

With about a month to go before the deal could be concluded, Key said Monday at a press conference that the deal was "probably not at the level that we would currently like."

Groser told the BusinessDesk agency last week that negotiations on dairy access to the heavily protected U.S., Canadian and Japanese markets had "barely started." Endi