Jan 22, 2018  -  A UK manufacturing group is reportedly poised to urge the Tory and Unionist cabinet not to pull Britain out from the EU customs union, alleging that remaining in the single market post-Brexit could produce double benefits for the UK.

Jan 22, 2018  -  Minister for Trade and Export Growth David Parker leaves for London and Switzerland on Tuesday for a series of meetings on trade and economic issues.  In London Mr Parker will hold talks with the Rt Hon David Davis, Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, and the Rt Hon Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Agriculture.

Jan 17, 2018  -  Fonterra has launched a new fresh milk product in China in partnership with Hema Fresh, Alibaba’s innovative new retail concept which combines traditional bricks-and-mortar shopping with a digital experience.  The new Daily Fresh milk range is now available in Hema’s 14 stores in Shanghai and Suzhou in 750mL bottles, sourced directly from Fonterra’s farm hub in Hebei province. The product boasts unique product labels to match each day of the week in order to emphasise freshness, with stock being replenished overnight ready for each new day.

Jan 17, 2018  -  International shipping firm A.P. Moller-Maersk is partnering with IBM to build a blockchain-based platform that seeks to make global trade more efficient.

Jan 16, 2018 - Some Kiwi firms see the Amazon opening in Australia as a threat. Others believe it’s a massive opportunity to crack a major market in good company. Kevin Kevany discovers one of its biggest advocates.

Amazon.com.au’s opening in Australia is anything but a threat to New Zealand’s SME (small and medium enterprise) manufacturing sector. In fact, it could turn out to be one of the greatest boosts to our food and beverage, specialist clothing, hi-tech and other locally derived and targeted product producers in decades. Certainly since the global financial crisis.

And it can simplify any Kiwi company’s first foray into the prized Aussie market; always a daunting task for a first-timer.

One man voicing these optimistic predictions (“Amazon will be transformative for Australasia, given the relatively small size of the regional market”) knows what he is talking about too.

Paul Grey has made a great success of guiding similar product producers onto the Amazon marketplace – which has been described as “the Western world’s largest online retailer, offering customers almost any product, delivered almost anywhere, and all at very competitive prices”.

Grey has an established reputation for doing just that in Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, plus many years’ experience helping Kiwi companies export into the US.

He now stands ready to provide his experience and skills in the Australasian market through his company, ExportX, plus his proprietary software which simplifies the process of getting products listed with Amazon.

“ExportX specialises in representing brands in the Amazon sales channel,” says Grey, adding that it's not trivial to do it properly. “We're closely involved in preparations for the Australia launch, and we're hoping many local businesses will choose ExportX to handle regional Amazon sales.

“In addition, our software arm offers A2X, which is a cloud service, automating the accounting for Amazon marketplace sales. A2X is already processing around $1 billion of third-party Amazon sales worldwide, for more than 1,000 sellers. It will likely be an essential system component for local businesses setting up to sell on the new website.”

Continue here to read the full article written by Kevin Kevany for NZBusiness  ||  January 15, 2018   |||

Jan 12, 2018 - Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates, completed a year of strong growth in 2017. The air cargo carrier’s robust performance, set against the backdrop of a resurgent global air cargo market, was underlined by the introduction of specialised customer focused air transportation solutions across a number of industry verticals and by continued investment in infrastructure.

Dec 20, 2017  -  New Zealand’s trade relationship with India has been strong and growing rapidly. As at Year ended June 2017, India was the Seventh largest export destination and 11th largest import source for New Zealand’s total exports and imports of goods and services respectively.

India was the fifth largest destination for New Zealand’s commercial services exports after China, Australia, EU and US, and the Ninth largest import source for its commercial services imports.

Table 1 suggests that, as at year-end June 2017, India was New Zealand’s 11th largest trading partner based on total trade in goods and services, with a two-way total trade valued at $ 2.6 billion, out of which exports were worth $ 1.7 billion.

The Export Sector

New Zealand’s exports to India have been heavily concentrated in a few product categories. The top five goods exported from New Zealand to India as at Year-end June 2017 constituted 78.5% of New Zealand’s total exports to India.

The top commodity item of exports was Logs and Forestry products ($271 million), followed by Confidential items ($154 million), Wood Pulp ($45 million), Wool ($39 million), and Edible Fruit and Nuts ($34 million) (Table 2).

In terms of change in value of exports to India as at year-end March 2016, the largest increases were noted in Confidential Items (up by $70 million from a year ago); followed by Wood Pulp (up by $12 million) and Logs and Sugar & Sugar confectionery (both up by $2 million).

The largest decreases in export values during this period were noted in exports of Machinery Equipment and parts (down by $15 million), followed by Dairy Produce (down by $11 million compared to a year ago) and Metal Scraps including Iron and Steel ingots (down by $ 9 million).

Continue here to read the full article on Indian Newslink  ||  December 17, 2017   |||

Dec 20, 2017  -  Pure South lamb from leading food company Alliance Group is to feature at one of China’s major online sales events this week.  The lamb will be showcased in a three-day online sales promotion run through Tmall, a Chinese-language business-to-consumer online retail venture, operated by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group. Tmall is the largest business-to-consumer retail platform in Asia with almost 500 million users annually. Alliance Group has been selected as a strategic partner and New Zealand’s only lamb producer for the promotion, which will run from 20-22 December. The launch of the sales event will feature a video of award-winning Alliance Group farmers Hamish and Annabel Craw of Longridge Agriculture, who farm sheep over 422 hectares of hill country farm on Banks Peninsula. David Surveyor, Alliance Group Chief Executive, said the involvement in the promotion reflects the co-operative’s reputation in China. “We have a reputation for producing high quality meat products, built on meticulous food production techniques, world class systems and a strong focus on consumer needs. We look forward to further co-operation between Alliance Group and Alibaba (Tmall) in the future. “It is also great to see Hamish and Annabel Craw featuring in the promotion. They are committed Alliance Group farmers and will help tell the story of our products. “That’s a story of the highest-quality red meat, raised naturally and grass-fed in the clean lush pastures of New Zealand, a proud farming heritage, and a commitment to the highest level of environmental sustainability and ethical production.” Alliance Group has been working in China since the mid-1990s and is now the country’s largest exporter of New Zealand lamb to the country. It has a long-standing relationship with its in-market Chinese partner Grand Farm, the best-known distributor and marketer of top quality red meat in Northern China. Alliance exports a range of New Zealand-packed product, specially designed for the Chinese market and co-branded Pure South and Grand Farm. “As New Zealand’s only 100 per cent farmer-owned red meat co-operative, we are also committed to further strengthening relationships in Asia to deliver value to our 5,000 farmer shareholders,” said Mr Surveyor. Alliance Group is continuing to invest in new product forms and ranges that will be either produced from source or further processed in the market to meet the growing demands of China’s consumers. In June, Alliance was the first New Zealand company to export chilled lamb to China as part of a chilled trial programme. Alliance also recently purchased Singapore-based sales and marketing company Goldkiwi, which is now known as Alliance Asia.

| An Alliance Group release  ||  December 20, 2017   |||

Dec 19, 2017  -  The Minister for Trade and Export Growth needs to put New Zealand exporters ahead of coalition politics and get the TPP deal done, National Party Trade Spokesperson Todd McClay says.  “The Trade Minister’s statement following last week’s WTO Ministerial Conference reveals more for what it doesn’t say and demonstrates rising trade tensions within the Government.

“Today’s statement was completely silent on the TPP, showing that Labour are starting to bow to pressure from their junior Coalition partner - New Zealand First.

“New Zealand First, Labour and the Greens have all previously voted against TPP legislation. The revised TPP very closely mirrors the original agreement signed in Auckland last year and includes an investor-state dispute mechanism, a provision that the Greens and New Zealand First have previously protested against.

“It is clear that New Zealand First’s ongoing opposition to the TPP is jeopardising the process.

“The lack of information or progress on this is especially concerning given that all of the TPP Ministers attended the WTO conference.

“National has guaranteed its parliamentary support for a revised TPP. The Government must make this agreement its number one trade priority.

“It is time for the Labour Government to step up and deliver for New Zealanders. They are at risk of squandering the opportunity to secure a fairer deal for kiwi exporters because of coalition politics.”

| A National party release  ||  December 18, 2017   |||

Dec 14, 2017  -  The European Union (EU) and Japan have concluded negotiations on a free trade deal to create the world’s largest open economic area, signalling their rejection of the protectionist stance of US president Donald Trump.

The two parties, who agreed in principle the outlines of the deal in July, said negotiators had now finished a legal text that would open up trade for economies generating about 30% of global GDP.

In a joint statement, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said the deal had “considerable economic value” and “strategic importance”.

“With the finalisation of the negotiations, the path is now clear to complete the internal procedures leading to the signature, ratification and full implementation of the agreement,” they said.

They added that the deal demonstrated their commitment to “keeping the world economy working on the basis of free open and fair markets with clear and transparent rules”.

The deal, the Economic Partnership Agreement, combining the 28-nation bloc and world’s third largest economy, will remove EU tariffs of 10% on Japanese cars and the 3% rate typically applied to parts.

For the EU, it will scrap Japanese duties of 30% on EU cheese and 15% on wines, as well as allowing it to increase its beef and pork exports and gain access to large public tenders in Japan.

Cecilia Malmstrom, EU trade chief, said amid widening protectionist movements the deal demonstrates to the world the flag of free trade would keep waving.

“This is biggest trade agreement we have ever negotiated for the EU. It sends a powerful message in defence of open trade based on global rules,” she said.

In the past five months negotiators worked on stabilising tariffs in services, regulatory cooperation and the means to protect food and drink categories, including only naming sparkling wines from a specific Italian region prosecco.

However, Malmstrom said that discussions are set to continue on the contentious issue of investor protection.

Japan has been reluctant to adopt the investment court system the EU has devised in answer to criticism of traditional dispute settlement arrangements intended to protect investors.

Campaigners argue the system, known as ISDS, hands companies the power to undermine social and economic rules. Brussels responded by devising an alternative system of investment courts but has so far not convinced Tokyo to back it.

Malmstrom said negotiations would continue separately on this issue outside the scope of the main deal, helping smooth the path towards ratification.

“This needs further discussion at the beginning of next year but the rest of the agreement is there,” she said.

The absence of investor protection from the deal means that the EU can ratify the agreement through the European Parliament and Council of Brussels, rather than through lengthy national ratification procedures.

She added that the EU is also hoping to seal free trade agreements with Mexico and the Mercosur bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

“The fact that we managed to finalise this today when we and Japan go to Buenos Aires, sends a powerful signal that we can make good trade agreements that are win-win,” she said.

| A Supply Management release  ||  December 13, 2017   |||