Trade Minister Todd McClay today published a summary of what New Zealand businesses think about Brexit and the impact they believe it could have on trade with the United Kingdom – New Zealand’s fifth largest trading partner.
This follows a public consultation held earlier in the year to better understand the position of New Zealand exporters and investors into the UK market.
A total of 18 submissions were received, with businesses sighting a combination of potential opportunities and challenges from the United Kingdom’s decision to separate from the European Union.
“Understanding the views of New Zealand businesses is fundamental to ensuring that the Government focuses on the areas that count for our exporters,” says Mr McClay.
Some businesses thought the UK might move towards a more open market and indicated that this could boost trade. Several companies emphasised the importance of the UK and the EU respecting their WTO commitments.
Conversely, a number of submitters expressed the view that the UK may adopt a move towards greater protectionism.
“Specifically, some businesses saw an opportunity for the UK to streamline standards and compliance, which would impact positively on trade,” says Mr McClay.
“Last month, I established a trade policy dialogue with UK, laying the foundations for a more formal trading relationship with the UK once it is in a position to negotiate independently of the European Union.
“Yesterday, in London, I met with Alok Sharma, the UK Minister for Asia and the Pacific and reiterated New Zealand’s intention to work with the UK to preserve and enhance our important and longstanding trade relationship.
“I have had similar conversations with UK Trade Minister, Liam Fox, and am grateful for the assurances that New Zealand’s trade interests will be protected in this changing environment.
“This latest feedback from New Zealand businesses will help to ensure that we safeguard New Zealand’s interests as this process unfolds,” says Mr McClay.
Giggling Gerties are scaring away audiences
Nobody in New Zealand public life has left such a vacuum of such black hole dimensions as television broadcaster Paul Holmes. To television he was truly irreplaceable. This is why they are out on the streets now looking for a replacement.
The word “streets” is important here because this is the location in which is likely to dwell the new talent.
Other search locations have proven to be dry wells.
The broadcasters have tried re-processing broadcasting types from previous eras. Most people only became aware of their particular shows when bearded characters marched down Queen Street in protest against their show being taken off the air.
They will not be sending their talent scouts in the general direction of university media studies departments or J-schools.
They are looking for someone with gravitas, a self-possessed type. A McLuhanesque figure. It will be recalled that Marshall McLuhan codified what works in the media and what does not. In television it was, he stated, that it was the camera that does the work.
The people in front of the camera only needed to stay cool, according to McLuhan. The must not prance around uttering naughty words if they are male. They do not have to nervously giggle in response to anything that can be construed as remotely amusing if they are females.
As with Holmes they should use standard English. Remember the show is for the people at the other end of the camera , not the ones at their end.
So there should be a clampdown on words such as “talkun” for talking “meeer” for mayor, “heed” for had, and so on.
Did anyone ever hear Holmes talkun about a group of, a collective of, a number of “woman?”
Another thing. The bulk of the audience now is in their middle years and over. Manners tends to be a factor here. So add the courtesy title Mr.
If this is too much just use the first name such as referring to the prime minister as John Key.
Anythun’ else? Ah! Yes, or as you might say “yeees”. If you have Key or some such on the other end of the microphone—why not let them get a word in now and then?
From the MSCNewsWire reporters' desk - Thursday 1 December 2016
GE to build 3D made aircraft engine.
GE is testing its a-CT7 turboprop aircraft engine which will be made with about a third of its parts made through additive manufacturing processes.
The prototype replaces 900 conventionally manufactured parts with just 16, demonstrating the technology's power to create more complex parts than conventional means.
There will be components designed to finer tolerances or to withstand heat that ultimately may not be made this way, but the future looks additive.
Companies are increasingly looking for circular-economy approaches to design — and use — durable products that can be reused or recycled at end of life.
Noble Environmental Technologies says its technology is helping customers do just that: recycle their waste streams into new building materials for reuse. And the company says it can partner with virtually any business to help it close the loop while reduce its manufacturing costs and waste produced, reports Environmental Leader.
Starbucks, for example, could recycle coffee grounds and commercial waste and convert it into materials used to build stores, furniture and packaging, the company says. And Walmart could recycle all of its retail store paper and cardboard waste and convert it into home décor, furniture products, retail shelving and displays, officials say.
Noble Environmental says its building material product, called Ecor, makes these scenarios possible and profitable. It was a finalist at the annual World Economic Forum conference at Davos, recognized for enabling the circular economy and a Dell Circular Economy People’s Choice Award nominee. The company says Ecor is the future of green building and sustainable design.
Ecor, developed in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is made from 100 percent recycled material. It’s made from fiber-based waste — office paper, cardboard, recycled denim and other fabrics, hemp, jute, sugar cane bagasse, corn husks, wood dust and trimmings, among others — and can be engineered into a variety of shapes for different applications. The company describes it as a sustainable alternative to wood, composites, aluminum and plastic. The product itself is also 100 percent recyclable.
“We call it a fiber alloy,” Noble Environmental’s Jay Potter said in an interview. “The fiber alloy is like your fingerprint. Every single company we encounter has a waste stream, and that waste stream is unique to them. And every company has a need for building materials, for their own use or making into products such as furniture or something else. Whether its in their building or products, we can design a unique fiber alloy around their needs.”
Panels are priced between $3 and $24 per square foot.
Google, Whole Foods and Toms Shoes are among the companies using Ecor — Whole Food has used Ecor for signage, Google used Ecor for wavy interior panels and Toms’ for shoe hangers. The company says it will soon announce a new customer, “a leading global brewer,” that will convert its spent brewers grains, paper and cardboard waste into a range of Ecor materials, which will then be used by the brewer and its vendors to produce their retail graphics, point-of-purchase displays, commercial packaging and perhaps even the six-beer bottle boxes.
“The brewery has to replace 15,000 uniforms a year, and 85 percent of those are 100 percent cotton — just wonderful fiber,” Potter said. “Unlike a pair of jeans, which someone might wear again, nobody wants a soiled uniform. It has very little opportunity for reuse. Same thing with the brewery’s off-labels. They might have little pieces of glass in it, or some glues that recyclers can’t deal with. We take any fiber that we can cobble together to make an alloy.”
The company says in addition to helping businesses reduce or eliminate their waste, using Ecor also provides a competitive advantage. The product is lighter, which means it costs less to transport. It’s also 30 percent denser than medium density fiberboard, which means it is more durable and will last longer.
Ecor contains no toxic adhesives, additives, formaldehyde, or off-gassing and has virtually zero airborne volatile organic compounds.
Potter says it also costs less than it’s conventional counterparts. “There’s a big MDF (medium density fiberboard) project in Northern California that’s going to cost $300 million — we could build that same factory for probably $75 million.”
Lux Research analyst Jerrold Wang told Environmental Leader that Ecor is a good example of a circular economy approach.
“The use of waste material not only achieves sustainability but also enables low raw material cost or even negative cost,” he said.
But Lux Research doesn’t consider it an alternative to wood, composites, aluminum and plastic
A Proud Green Building press release
A new trading platform to assist buyers of timber in sourcing legal or certified products from all over the world has been launched.
BVRio Environmental Exchange has launched today the Responsible Timber Exchange to facilitate the screening of timber products and their supply chains.
The index, which features a due diligence system, aims to facilitate the procurement of responsible timber products and increase liquidity, supply and demand for this market segment while promoting transparency, legality and sustainability.
The platform will also feature optional services such as grading and quality control, field audits and due diligence, receivables finance, insurance and logistics.
BVRio said it believed the tool would be particularly useful to buyers and traders operating in Europe and the US, where they have to ensure compliance with the EU Timber Regulation and the US Lacey Act, reducing their exposure to the illegal timber trade.
The system was originally designed to screen Brazilian timber but the UK government has helped adapt it to screen responsible timber from West Africa, starting with Ghana, and Peru.
It is ready to screen responsible timber products from the Brazilian Amazon, Indonesia (based on the newly issued FLEGT licenses), as well as FSC and PEFC certified products from around the world.
BVRio has highlighted the high risk of timber illegality in Brazil, where it is estimated that more than 50% of timber comes from illegal sources.
A Supply Management release
Revology Chair
Tony Alexander's BNZ Weekly Overview
Glowing report on Government handling of Paris terror threats and 1080 milk scandal
Agricultural trade envoy Mike Petersen convinced
Godfrey Hirst loses appeal to block NZ wool processing merger
Donald Trump to leave his business 'in total' but gives no details
While you were sleeping: Oil surges on OPEC deal
$2.4m in govt support for Southland
Non-tariff barriers – a hidden brake on New Zealand economic growth
Last month, customs officials at the Gongbei Port of Entry began using Sanbot, a humanoid robot designed and built by QIHAN Technology Company, to help increase efficiency, security and customer experience at the busy border crossing.
According to QIHAN, Sanbot is a service robot powered by a cloud-enabled app ecosystem designed to be deployed in a wide variety of settings including retail locations, schools, hospitals and more.
“The use of Sanbot by Gongbei Customs demonstrates just how versatile Sanbot’s AI platform truly is,” said Zhuang Yongjun, chief technology officer at QIHAN. “We truly believe that robots like Sanbot have the potential to change how service industries operate–and that includes helping customs workers operate and secure ports around the globe. By equipping Sanbot with an incredibly powerful, cloud-based development platform, QIHAN has been able to allow our partners at Gongbei Customs to tailor Sanbot’s capabilities and behaviors to the needs of their specific use case.”
John Lim, Managing Director for Sandvik South East Asia, cuts the ribbon and delivered a speech at the opening of Sandvik’s new distribution center in Singapore (photo: Sandvik)
Sandvik has opened a new distribution centre in Singapore to meet increasing demand for its advanced stainless steel and special alloy products, particularly in South East Asia and the wider Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.
The new Sandvik distribution centre, which is strategically located adjacent to Changi Airport, East Singapore, is key to the company’s customer service commitment as well as its expansion plans in the region.
“To improve our customer service in the Asia region, we are establishing a distribution center in Singapore offering significantly shorter lead-times to the market. Opening the new facility means we are able to bring our products closer to our customers, cutting response times significantly and enabling quicker deliveries,” explains Pär Burefjord, Logistics Manager for Sandvik in APAC.
“Our aim is to be able to offer 24 hour delivery to all APAC markets including India, China and Australia by air and three-to-ten days by vessel.”
Sandvik already operates two distribution centers in Singapore for its mining and machining products, but will now open a third for tube, strip, wire, welding products and heating systems.
“With an expanded and consolidated stock profile and automated stock replenishment, we can provide customers with an even greater service,” said Pär Burefjord. “By taking full advantage of our local material stocks and more efficient logistics, customers could actually reduce their own stock profiles, freeing up valuable manufacturing space.”
The new distribution centre boasts an impressive capacity and will accommodate tube products such as seamless high temperature tubes and furnace tubes, as well as stainless steel hollow bar for component manufacturers. The center will also stock an extensive program of welding consumables, precision wire and Kanthal® resistance wire and furnace products.
Magnus Brodin, Regional Sales Director for Sandvik in APAC, Tube Core & Standard Products, adds, “Inauguration of our new distribution centre in Singapore demonstrates our commitment to our customers in South East Asia and the wider APAC market. It expands our presence in the market, increasing competitiveness and facilitating Sandvik’s growth in the region.”
A Sandvic release out of Singapore
Wellington, Nov 29 (Petra) -- His Majesty King Abdullah II held talks on Tuesday with Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key, on ways to advance bilateral ties in the economic, trade and defence fields.
The talks, held at the Parliament in Wellington, also dealt with the two countries' efforts to expand cooperation and the prospect of Jordan benefiting from New Zealand's expertise in agriculture, renewable energy, education and other sectors.
Further, both sides agreed to stimulate the private sector in both countries to exchange visits to explore investment opportunities in the different sectors.
In their discussion of efforts to combat terrorism, King Abdullah reiterated Jordan's call for a holistic strategy to address this menace that targets global security and stability.
On Syria, the King said efforts should be ramped up to reach a political solution to the Syrian crisis inclusive of all components of the Syrian people.
Talks also highlighted the burdens shouldered by Jordan as a result of hosting a large number of Syrian refugees. The King called on the global community to assume its responsibility toward Jordan and the other refugee-host countries.
The two sides spoke about efforts to achieve peace between Palestinians and Israelis, and agreed on the need to exert more efforts to revive peace talks based on the two-state solution and the international legitimacy resolutions.
They also spoke about the situation in Iraq, particularly after the offensive in Mosul, stressing their support of the government to achieve stability with the participation of all segments of the Iraqi people.
The New Zealand premier commended Jordan's role in achieving security and stability in the region and beyond. He said many world leaders he met had praised King Abdullah's wisdom in dealing with global and regional issues.
The prime minister noted Jordan's stance against terrorism and extremism, and said his country viewed the King's visit as an opportunity to further enhance relations.
Also in Wellington, the King visited Weta Digital visual effects company and toured the facilities and state-of-the-art equipment used in movie making.
King Abdullah called for using Jordan's natural attractions, such as Wadi Rum and Petra, in the film industry, referring to the many international movies that were filmed in the country.
Excessive red tape, glacial bureaucratic processes and arbitrary new rules in overseas markets are a big – and costly – part of the trade picture for Kiwi exporters of agriculture, food and other products say the NZ International Business Forum (NZIBF) and the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC).
Two recent studies throw a spotlight on the burden imposed by so-called “non-tariff barriers” (NTBs) faced by New Zealand firms operating in the Asia-Pacific. The first report was prepared by the USC Marshall School of Business and released by ABAC at the recent APEC meetings in Lima and focuses on the impact of NTBs on food trade in the Asia-Pacific.
The second report has been prepared by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER), and examines the cost of non-tariff measures(NTMs) for business in the APEC region.
“Thanks to free trade agreements, New Zealand exporters are facing lower tariffs than ever before in the region. But they still don’t enjoy a level playing field because of NTBs and costly NTMs,” said Stephen Jacobi, NZIBF Executive Director.
Legitimate NTMs become NTBs when they are more trade restrictive than necessary. NTBs include opaque requirements for labelling and manufacturing processes, arbitrary product standards, and slow and costly Customs and other import procedures. Specific NTBs in agri-food trade include food safety rules that are not science-backed and a web of conflicting labelling requirements.
“These two reports show how NTBs add costs and complexity for business, undermine supply chains, make food and other goods more expensive for consumers, and in some cases even keep exports out of markets altogether,” said ABAC New Zealand member Tony Nowell, who led the ABAC project. “Given the number of small businesses in the New Zealand economy, it is particularly worrying that NTBs can have a disproportionately harsh impact on the operations of SMEs.”
“NTBs in food trade don’t just make life difficult for business. The APEC region has a population of three billion. Food trade helps to match up food supplies with demand, and contributes to food security. These measures actually undermine people’s ability to access safe, nutritious and affordable food,” said Mr Nowell.
More broadly, the non-tariff measures in place in the APEC region have been calculated by NZIER to cost New Zealand business billions each year. The NZIER discussion document estimates that Kiwi exporters face NTMs that impose costs of US$5.9 billion each year. While some measures are legitimate, others are blatantly protectionist, the report found.
“The outlook for the world economy is gloomy. Trade growth has fallen to its lowest level since the global financial crisis. Now more than ever we need to challenge hidden protectionism. NTBs are particularly noxious because they can be hard to even identify, let alone address,” Mr Jacobi said.
“We need greater transparency in rules, clearer timeframes for administrative processes, and regulations that are designed to avoid impeding trade. Exporters and consumers around our region deserve better,” Mr Jacobi concluded.
Issued by New Zealand International Business Forum (NZIBF) and APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC).