A glimmer of hope in grim times

Don Good described the deal as ‘‘an outstanding opportunity for New Zealand exporters’’.

‘‘We should all be thankful that Brexit happened ... It’s going to be good to go back to the 1950s and ‘60s when we were the United Kingdom’s garden.

‘‘Now Britain is spreading its wings back into the South Pacific. It’s very good news to get with Covid getting its grip on the country. Now we just want to get on with it, and make it happen.’’

Matamata-Piako mayor Ash Tanner added his voice to the chorus of approval.

‘‘In these grim times we are going through, it gives us a glimmer of hope. There have not been very many positives lately, and this deal seems to offer a lot of potential. You never know what may stem from it.

‘‘The deal is going to benefit this area quite well. There’s a lot of dairy and beef that comes from here, obviously, but there’s also honey, onions, all kinds of things.

‘‘The timing could not be better. These [Covid] shut-downs are just killing the economy. We all need to get back to work, but I’m not sure Covid’s going to end. We will just have to find ways to live with it.’’

Mark Gardiner, the owner of Whitehall Fruitpackers in Karapiro, said while welcome, the deal was not a big deal for his business.

‘‘Essentially, it’s still going to be business as usual for us, because we are an essential food service provider, and we have to keep trucking along.

‘‘The whole country is under duress with the labour shortage. The lack of backpackers and casual labour has been really hurting, and the Government have not had much regard for that.

‘‘The UK is not currently a huge market for us. Asia is the big player – particularly Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam are all good markets. Europe remains firm. The United States is also growing too.

‘‘It helps that there are now a lot of doctors and fitness experts all saying you should eat more kiwifruit. ’’

The UK is currently New Zealand’s seventh-largest trading partner, with two-way trade worth $6 billion in the year to March 2020. Once the deal is signed, it is expected to boost exports by 40 per cent and New Zealand’s gross domestic product by $970 million.

Among the immediate winners of the deal will be wine and honey exporters, who currently face tariffs of $50 per 100 litres of wine and 16 per cent on honey. There will also be tariffs removed on onions and hoki for the day the deal is signed. Tariffs on apples and mussels will be removed in three years.

Butter and cheese exports will become tariff-free after five years, with quotas – the maximum volume of exports the UK will accept – increasing for butter from 7000 tonnes to 15,000 tonnes, and for cheese from 24,000 tonnes to 48,000 tonnes.