SHANGHAI, Feb 10 (Reuters) - New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi agreed to work together to support free trade and globalisation when they met in New Zealand's largest city, Auckland, China's foreign ministry has said in a statement.

The pair met on Thursday and discussed launching negotiations to upgrade an existing bilateral free trade agreement and cooperate in sectors such as infrastructure, tourism and judicial enforcement, said the statement published late on Thursday on the ministry's website.

"Hand in hand, we should protect the international trade system, build the open economy, and try to start upgrading the negotiation of the free trade agreement," it quoted Wang as saying.

New Zealand was the first Western country to sign a free trade agreement with China in 2008. China is now New Zealand's largest goods export partner, with New Zealand exports to China at NZ$12.2 billion ($8.54 billion) in the year to June, 2016.

During the meeting, English also welcomed Chinese enterprises to invest in New Zealand, while Wang said he hoped New Zealand could support China's One Belt, One Road initiative with its infrastructure projects.

The Chinese foreign ministry also said that English spoke highly of Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech at the 2017 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, which offered a vigorous defence of globalisation and signalled Beijing's desire to play a bigger role on the world stage.

It did not say whether the two had discussed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact.

New Zealand and Australia have said that they hope to salvage TPP by encouraging China and other Asian countries to join the trade pact after U.S. President Donald Trump kept a promise to abandon the accord.

China has been playing up its role as a steadying force from global trade to climate change amid a turbulent start by new U.S. President Donald Trump, whose first weeks in office have been marked by media feuds and protests. (Reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Michael Perry)

Exporters Must Persuade Government to Start Backtracking.

Russia’s ban on importing New Zealand beef on the grounds of discovering additives in it has in fact all the characteristics of a reprisal for participating in the United States-invoked embargo.

New Zealand is viewed as an easy target as the Russians now start retaliating against those nations which supported the blockade.

The embargo mainly involved the United States and the EU. But anxious to appease the United States New Zealand deliberately demonstrated “solidarity” with the US, in the words of former premier John Key.

In return for this New Zealand took pole position in the now defunct Trans Pacific Partnership Treaty and as a special reward Auckland was chosen as the venue for participants to sign it.

There are indications that Russia will use several hygiene scares in recent years to choke off supplies of New Zealand dairy products.

At one time Russia was considered as New Zealand’s prime emerging market. But since the 1980s Russia has been supplanted by Asia.

It is here though that the US embargo on Russia did its most serious damage to New Zealand trade.

This occurred when France was prevented from sending its milk to Russia, along with milk exports from several other EU nations.

The result was the EU milk surplus now found its way to China, severely depressing demand for New Zealand milk.

New Zealand’s position in the US-led blockade of Russia will remain a problem for some years to come even though the embargo itself has now become moot under President Donald Trump.

Commodity exporters are trying to cool the ardour of New Zealand legislators in the matter of supporting the embargo.

This will allow them to mend fences with the Russians.

One advantage here will be the resignation at the end of last year of New Zealand premier John Key, known to be an ardent supporter of former United States president Barack Obama.

The public and indeed New Zealand’s legislators in the matter of the long-running embargo have something in common in that they have both been unaware of the consequences of participating in the blockade.

In France, in contrast, the consequences are well understood. Russia’s president Putin (pictured) deliberately called up well-publicised bulldozings of French produce found to have entered Russia via bills of ladings sourced in its old African colonies.

France, under pressure from the United States, was forced to abandon its showpiece advanced technology export which was its Mistral Class vessel for Russia’s navy.

Combined with the loss of its Russia disposal market for milk products the embargo is one of the factors behind the elimination of France’s ruling Socialist Party from any contention in this year’s presidential election.

|  From the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |  Wednesday 8 February 2017  ||

Trade Minister Todd McClay today welcomed the inaugural daily flight of Qatar Airways direct Auckland – Doha service at Auckland International Airport saying the world's longest flight was set to boost New Zealand trade and tourism.

“Qatar is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the air link will continue to gain importance when New Zealand concludes a Free Trade Agreement with the GCC,” Mr McClay says.

The new service is the world’s longest commercial flight, taking 17 hours and 30 minutes and covering a distance of 14,535 kilometres.

“The new Auckland – Doha service will not only provide more options and connections for business and leisure travellers, but will also provide an additional 116 tonnes of freight capacity every week. This increased freight capacity will support New Zealand exporters getting their fresh product to the Middle East and beyond,” Mr McClay says.

Qatar is a significant trading partner of New Zealand, with annual two-way trade exceeding $330 million.

“As a trading nation, New Zealand relies on effective air services to create much needed connections with the rest of the world. The estimated economic impact of this new service will be well in excess of $50 million,” Mr McClay says.

Qatar Airways has an extensive global network of more than 150 destinations. The new service from Auckland improves access to cities in Europe, Central Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

|  A Beehive release  |  Januasy 6, 2017  ||

Trade Minister Todd McClay will visit Japan and Singapore this week to discuss regional trade issues with his ministerial counterparts.

During his visit to Japan, which is the first stop, Mr McClay will meet with the Minister in charge of Economic Revitalization Nobuteru Ishihara.

“Japan is New Zealand’s fifth largest two-way trading partner, a significant source of foreign investment, and a key international partner in our efforts to liberalise trade in the Asia-Pacific region,” Minister McClay says.

“We need to sit down and discuss the future of trade between our two countries and how we can best support regional economic integration and trade liberalisation.”

In Singapore, Mr McClay will meet with Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang.

“Given both Japan and Singapore are Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) signatories, I will take the opportunity to exchange views on the United States’ recent withdrawal from its TPP ratification process.

Minister McClay will also visit Mexico for trade discussions next week.

| A Beehive release  |  January 6, 2017  ||

Over 600 players and more than 3,000 fans had a new experience at one of the USA’s largest junior rugby tournaments, thanks to one of a kind portable Junior Rugby Packaposts designed by New Zealand company Packaworld International.

The Rhinos Rugby Stomp was hosted by Rhinos Rugby Club on Sunday 29 January at Great Park in the city of Irvine, California. The tournament featured Under 14 age group teams from nine clubs across California.

Junior rugby is often played without posts, particularly in the US, where many sports fields are set up for other sports.Rhinos Rugby Program Director Elvis Seveali’i, a former Manu Samoa rugby star, said the free-standing inflatable Junior Rugby Packaposts brought an extra dimension to the tournament, and had massive potential to help grow grass-roots rugby in the USA.

“These are the perfect size for children. It gives the effect that they’re playing in the real game, and this will be a major factor in attracting new players to the game of rugby.”

Mr Seveali’i said it was important for junior players to build up basic skills, create good habits and establish solid fundamentals.

The lack of posts at junior level meant kicking was not introduced to the game until around the age of 16 or 18, when senior rugby posts could be used. The portable Packaposts could be transported in a small car, did not damage artificial fields and had the potential to enable kicking and make the junior game closer to senior rugby, he said.

“These posts are going to make such a difference. I think it’s a great idea.”

Mr Seveali’i said the turnout at this year’s Rhinos Rugby Stomp had been excellent thanks to a major influx of players over the past year in the growth sport of rugby.

“A lot of the rugby community was there. The kids had a great time and it was fantastic to see so many supporters on what turned out to be a huge day for junior rugby in California.”

This year’s honours in the Under 14 division went to the Belmont Shore Under 14s team from Long Beach, with Irvine Rhinos, Belmont Shore Under 10s and Souths Rhinos from Santa Margarita victorious in the Under 12, Under 10 and Under 8 divisions respectively.

New Zealand’s top two export commodities, meat and dairy, both fell by value in 2016, Statistics New Zealand said today.

The total value of all export goods was $48.4 billion for the year ended December 2016, down $544 million from the previous year. This is the second annual fall in a row for exports. The latest annual total is $1.6 billion less than the high of the 2014 year.

The biggest fall by value was for meat and edible offal, our second largest export group, with sales down $909 million to $5.9 billion. The fall in meat was driven by beef (down $481 million) and lamb (down $415 million). The United States accounted for three-quarters of the fall in beef, while the European Union (EU) accounted for nearly half of the fall in lamb. The amount of meat fell 7.4 percent from 2015, with beef falling 14 percent and lamb falling 4.6 percent.

“The large fall in meat exports for 2016 reflects a decline from the record meat season in 2015 for both value and quantity,” international statistics senior manager Nicola Growden said. “The 2016 year’s meat exports have returned to levels similar to those seen in 2014.”

The quantity of milk powder, butter, and cheese exported rose to a new high of 3.0 million tonnes, despite a near 3 percent fall in the value of dairy exports to $11.2 billion.

The quantity of milk powder, butter, and cheese has been rising since 2013 and is now 14 percent higher than it was then. The quantity exported to China was 25 percent of the total in 2016, slightly up from 23 percent in 2015.

The value of imported goods was $51.6 billion in 2016, down $883 million (1.7 percent) from the high of the December 2015 year. The fall was led by cheaper oil and petrol, and partly offset by a rise in cars, trucks, and parts.

Oil and petrol fell $840 million in 2016, mainly due to crude oil (down $666 million). The value of crude oil has been falling for the past four years, and is now 55 percent lower than the 2012 value ($5.7 billion). The amount of crude oil imported rose 2.3 percent in 2016, and has been increasing for the past two years.

In 2016 there was an annual trade deficit of $3.2 billion (6.6 percent of exports). This is smaller than the deficit of $3.5 billion for the December 2015 year. The trade shortfall in 2015 was the largest December year deficit since 2008.

Overseas Merchandise Trade: December 2016 – for more data and analysis

See also:  Fall in quarterly exports despite rise in dairy

Fonterra’s Research and Development Centre has developed a new white butter product to meet growing demand from manufacturers in the Middle East market.

The New Zealand dairy co-op developed the product alongside its global ingredients business NZMP.

Fonterra’s butter is renowned amongst Middle East consumers for its golden appearance thanks to milk from grass fed cows.

However, a niche segment of manufacturers prefer white butter as a processing ingredient for their food products.

These Middle Eastern food manufacturers have traditionally sourced butter from grain fed cows which produce dairy products with a pale colour, according to Fonterra.

The co-op seized an opportunity to respond to customer needs by developing a high quality white butter ingredient, Fonterra’s Dairy Foods Category Director of NZMP, Casey Thomas said.

Produced through an innovative manufacturing process, Fonterra is now able to reduce the golden appearance of the butter without impacting its quality.

“While our yellow butter already sees great success in this market, we saw an opportunity to tap into this new area for customers to use in a variety of applications such as spreadable jar cheese, recombined cream cheese, and could soon be used in ice cream,” he said.

This innovative approach is already seeing strong results, NZMP General Manager of Middle East and Africa, Santiago Aon said.

Our customers have had positive feedback about the white butter, it is performing to our expectations as a high quality ingredient for food businesses across the Middle East region.

The Fonterra Research and Development Centre and NZMP team both have a long history of partnering with customers to not only provide them with steady supplies of ingredients, but creating business solutions with them.

The product is now available in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Bahrain, Turkey and Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the Kiwi co-op plans to the launch the product in Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and even South America in the future.

|  First published on Agriland  |  January 29, 2017  ||

Nearly 69% of logistics professionals are worried about a global retreat from free trade, a survey has found.

Logistics firm Agility, in its annual report on emerging markets, said the concern follows the election of Trump, UK’s vote to leave the European Union and the collapse of a number of regional and global trade talks.

It also said of the 800 global logistics professionals asked, 42.8% said they felt the IMF’s emerging market growth forecast of 4.6% for 2017 was too optimistic.

Alongside the industry survey, the report compiles an annual index ranking emerging economies on their attractiveness to logistics providers. China, India and the UAE topped the list of 50 this year.

The report said robust growth and reforms to taxation and the economy pushed India into the number two spot, overtaking the UAE, while the industry survey named India as the country with the most logistics potential and where respondents said their companies were most likely to invest.

Almost half of the ranked countries saw their score fall compared to last year, a sign of stagnation in global trade growth, the report said.

The UAE, ranked number three overall, was the best country for business climate, logistics infrastructure and for transport connections. Gulf countries scored particularly well on indicators for business climate.

Nigeria and South Africa were among the countries that fell the furthest in the rankings compared to last year, nine places and four places respectively. Conversely, it was some of the smaller African countries, including Kenya and Ethiopia, which saw some of the biggest rises.

Iran was the most improved country, climbing eight places to become 18th overall. The logistics industry was “fascinated [by] the implications of its emergence from years of international isolation,” the report said.

Of those lowest ranked in the index, most were experiencing some form of conflict or unrest the report noted.

The index ranked countries based on markers indicating market growth, accessibility, stability and connectedness, among other things.

Top five emerging economies for logistics:

1. China

2. India

3. UAE

4. Malaysia

5. Saudi Arabia

Five worse emerging economies:

1. Mozambique

2. Angola

3. Myanmar

4. Lebanon

5. Libya

|  A Supply Management release  |  January 24, 2017  |

France’s Political Class Blind to PS votes going to FN

The breaking of France’s presidential glass ceiling by Marine Le Pen promises to be more shattering than any fall-out connected with the now broken presidential hopes of Hillary Clinton.

This is because the fall-out will be a compound one blended from the glass ceiling effect and the upset triumph of President Donald Trump.

The French political class which is far more pervasive than anything their English-speaking counterparts can put forward is only just realising the truth that has been hiding in plain sight.

It is that Marine Le Pen and her Front National Party have a very good chance of winning the pending presidential general election.

As with their English-speaking counterparts the French political classes only in the last few weeks have understood that she is short circuiting the sectors that customarily act as middlemen between politicians and voters.

We are talking here of once-admired categories such as academics, think tank intellectuals, and of course journalists.

Marine Le Pen channeled Donald Trump before Donald Trump started running for President.

The most recent milestone on her own presidential route is the embarrassing back tracking of academics, think tankers, and journalists on the outcome of the primary within the Republican Party for its presidential candidate.

France’s commentators, much more esteemed than their counterparts in the English-speaking zone, had stated that the winner would be the more liberal of the two conservative party front-runners, Alain Juppe.

In the event the party plumped for the more right-leaning Francois Fillon.

As a result of this France’s biggest circulation daily Le Parisien did something that its English-speaking zone counterparts have still signally failed to do.

This was to acknowledge that its employees’ wishes manifested as fact and that opinion now had to be separated from news.

It banned from its pages all tendentious reporting and, more importantly still, opinion polls.

Even so, the French intellectual class, traditionally cherished in a way that its English-zone counterpart is decidedly not now radiates a fresh formula.

This holds that, yes, Marine Le Pen may perhaps be head-to-head with Francois Fillon in the first stage of the presidential elections.

But that she will be washed out in the second stage or run-off procedure in which French voters are required to unambiguously list their preference.

As with their US and British counterparts the commentariat cannot bring itself to ask itself from which sectors Marine Le Pen will draw her votes in this head-to-head or sudden-death challenge.

These votes are increasingly being seen as being drawn from the current ruling party the Socialist Party which has become so unpopular that its chances of regaining the Elysee are not even being considered.

Marine Le Pen has promised to close the book on political correctness and all that it contains. This means globalisation (think EU) and multi-culturalism (think the religiously affiliated version.)

This is music to the ears of provincial France where local products are being swamped by lower-cost competition from the rest of the EU.

She would seek détente with Russia which since the US and EU led embargo has ceased to take France’s surplus farm output.

She will stem the tide of immigrants who are viewed by this same sector (think “deplorables”) as lowering wage rates and putting pressure on accommodation and social services.

Meanwhile Marine Le Pen while keep the emphasis on France’s imperial world-power yearnings, notably in Oceania, where she has long had a soft spot for New Caledonia.

|  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |  Wednesday 25 January 2017  |

Trade Minister Todd McClay has said that New Zealand’s ongoing and future trade relationship with the United Kingdom is in good shape following agreement on the next steps for the newly established NZ-UK Trade Policy Dialogue.

The progress was made during a meeting between Minister McClay and his UK counterpart, Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“This is an important day for trade relations between our two countries as the Trade Policy Dialogue will ensure there is no disruption to trading conditions as a result of Britain leaving the European Union,” Mr McClay says.

Minister McClay has offered to host a meeting in New Zealand when Secretary Fox visits in the first half of this year.

Discussions will include market access, trade and investment, World Trade Organisation processes and prospective negotiations.

“Preferential access to high value export markets is important for New Zealand’s strong economic performance. An ongoing focus on promoting fairer trade and investment rules is key to our prosperity as a nation and the Trade Policy Dialogue will be a part of this,” Mr McClay says.

|  Beehive, January 20, 2017  |