Trade barriers cost dairy exports $1.3 billion a year
Billions of dollars are being lost each year to the New Zealand dairy industry through trade barriers.
A report commissioned by the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ), said the tariffs were suppressing the value of New Zealand’s dairy products by about $1.3 billion annually.
DCANZ chairman Malcolm Bailey said the tariffs amounted to a significant cost to New Zealand. ’’On top of this, non-tariff measures add over $3b in costs to New Zealand dairy exports in the APEC region alone.’’ Removing trade barriers would allow the dairy sector to build value-adding momentum, Bailey said.
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy said the report by New Zealand Institute of Economic Research, ‘Dairy trade’s economic contribution to New Zealand’, confirmed the dairy sector’s contribution to the national economy. ‘‘According to the report dairy contributes $7.8b to New Zealand’s GDP and is our largest goods exporter. This is a timely reminder of just how important the dairy industry is. While the dairy sector has had a tough few seasons, in the year to March 2016 it still earned over $13b in exports for New Zealand.’’ The report found that dairy exports generated more than one in every four dollars earned by New Zealand and the sector provides incomes for 40,000 New Zealanders, including 2100 jobs in Auckland. Dairy employment had grown by an average of 3.7 per cent per year, more than twice as fast as the 1.7 per cent recorded for total employment in New Zealand over the past 15 years. The sector was responsible for one in every five jobs in Waimate, Otorohanga and Southland districts. The industry was responsible for one in every 10 jobs in Matamata Piako, South Taranaki, Hauraki, Waipa, Ashburton, South Waikato, Clutha and Kaipara and one in every 20 jobs in Hurunui, Tararua, Stratford, Waikato, South Wairarapa, Buller, Westland, Timaru, and Manawatu.