Sanford facing export delays at Chinese ports

Fisheries company Sanford says it has been experiencing ‘‘administrative issues’’ with its salmon exports to China that have caused delays getting its shipments cleared through Chinese ports.

The statement from Sanford – which has a long history of exporting to China – comes as politicians and business bodies are on alert for evidence that China might be retaliating against exporters for a block put on Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei in December.

That block prevents Huawei from supplying 5G mobile technology to Kiwi telco Spark.

Sanford chief customer officer Andre Gargiulo said in a written statement that the issues had affected several shipments of fresh salmon since the end of January.

‘‘We have not been given a reason for this by local authorities,’’ he said.

The company has not speculated on the reasons for the delays or made any suggestion they might be a form of payback.

National Party foreign affairs and trade spokesman Todd McClay hinted to Parliament’s economic development select committee on Thursday that he had heard of export issues in the dairy, fisheries, seafood and wood products industries. But a party spokesman said he could not provide details because the conversations with businesspeople had been private.

New Zealand Trade & Enterprise chief executive Peter Chrisp revealed he had been contacting businesses over the past week to ask whether they were facing problems.

But he said that while there were ‘‘a number of stories in the market’’, he had not been able to substantiate a pattern that would suggest the issues faced by Kiwi exporters to China had changed.

‘‘Some people have got issues, some haven’t got issues, but China is not the easiest market in the world to engage with. I am not sure if there is anything more than ‘the normal’ or not,’’ he explained.

The Government was this week forced to postpone the launch of the China-New Zealand ‘‘Year of Tourism’’, with sources suggesting that was due to officials failing to pin down a Chinese minister to attend.

On Sunday, an Air New Zealand 787 plane en route to China turned back to Auckland because of an issue relating to on-board documentation concerning Taiwan.

Custom Brokers and Freight Forwarders Federation chief executive Rosemary Dawson said businesses she had spoken to appeared more concerned by the potential issues that could flow from China’s trade battle with the United States than by the implications of a ‘‘no deal’’ Brexit.

She was not hearing reports of retaliation against Kiwi exporters by China, she said – just a ‘‘general throw-away line’’ voicing concerns.

‘‘We have not been given a reason for this by local authorities.’’ Sanford chief customer officer Andre Gargiulo