This Friday's Update clears up some confusion over whether we are taking full advantage of free trade agreements and gives you an update on some of the changes we're seeing in our exporting stats.
At the Seafood New Zealand Conference in August, keynote speaker, senior New Zealand diplomat Vangelis Vitalis, told delegates that the seafood sector was not taking full advantage of existing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). His concern was that money was being left on the table, because many New Zealand exporters were still paying tariffs in markets where they did not have to. These agreements were often negotiated over thousands of hours by skilled officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), so we were keen to find out what was happening and what we could do about it.
Since then, Seafood New Zealand and Aquaculture New Zealand have been working closely with MFAT to understand what is going on.
We have spent a lot of time going through trade information and we're pleased to say that investigations have revealed that any problems in this area are relatively minor. In fact, it appears the majority of our seafood exports are doing exactly the right thing - entering their markets taking advantage of the benefits the FTAs provide.
There are a small number of exceptions in some specialist product lines (such as extracts and powders) and niche markets, where the preferential treatment hasn't always been claimed. Seafood New Zealand and Aquaculture New Zealand are now making sure relevant exporters have the information they need to enable their importers to take full advantage of the preferential tariff treatment, where it applies.
It is important to clarify that it is the importer that claims the benefit from this, not the exporter. New Zealand exporters may negotiate improved prices from their importing agents, based on the ability to take advantage of our tariff-free status.
