Prospect of Iran sheepmeat trade
New Zealand meat exporters could be landing sheepmeat into Iran later this year as efforts are made to revive a trade which was at its height during the boom years of the 1980s.
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy said he had just returned from a visit to the Middle East country where he had signed a veterinary agreement that would pave the way for exports.
Exporters Silver Fern Farms and Taylor Preston were working with importing companies to finalise shipments to Iran for the tail end of the lambing season.
‘‘Iran was a very important market for New Zealand in the 1980s. We were selling a quarter of our sheepmeat there before red tape and bureaucracy put a halt to the trade in the 1990s. Kebabs are part of the staple diet and they want food that is safe from countries like New Zealand,’’ he told a seminar of the Central Districts Field Days in Feilding.
Guy said prospects for a free trade agreement with the Gulf States were also looking promising, following a trip by Foreign Minister Murray Mccully. ’’We’ve invested a lot in relaunching the FTA and things are looking positive.’’
Also present at the seminar was the United Arab Emirates ambassador to New Zealand, Saleh Ahmed Alsuwaidi, who said the Middle East was open to trade and was not affected by protectionist trends in other regions of the world. In the UAE New Zealand sheepmeat, dairy products and kiwifruit were very popular. The ambassador said the region was a hub that New Zealand businesses could operate from to reach other nearby markets.
‘‘New Zealand has the best practice in food safety and nutrition and for that reason its products are trusted,’’ he said.
At the field days Guy announced new investments in smart irrigation projects in the latest Sustainable Farming Fund round and $1.2m of funding to combat agricultural and horticultural diseases.