The export value of New Zealand wine has reached a record high according to the 2017 Annual Report of New Zealand Winegrowers. Now valued at $1.66 billion, up 6% in June year end 2017, wine now stands as New Zealand’s fifth largest goods export.
Over the past two decades the wine industry has achieved average annual export growth of 17% a year states the Report. “With diversified markets and a strong upward trajectory, the industry is in good shape to achieve $2 billion of exports by 2020” said Steve Green, Chair of New Zealand Winegrowers.
According to the Report exports to the USA have lead the strong growth, passing $500 million for the first time (up 12%). New Zealand wine became the third most valuable wine import into the USA, behind only France and Italy.
Mr Green highlighted that in order to achieve continuing value growth, it is critical for the industry to maintain focus on protecting and enhancing its reputation as a distinctive, quality product. “Our premium reputation remains the greatest collective asset for New Zealand wine, and underlies the high average price our wine commands in global trade”.
Improved protection of New Zealand’s regional identities through the Geographical Indications (Wine and Spirits) Registration Act, and initiatives such as the launch of the Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand Continuous Improvement extension programme will help enhance the world-class reputation of New Zealand wine as a premium and sustainable product, said Mr Green.
The 2017 Annual Report can be accessed here: https://www.nzwine.com/en/news-media/statistics-reports/new-zealand-winegrowers-annual-report/
| An NZWinegrowers release || August 28, 2017 |||
Complex issue of food imports pushes Brussels to bend its rules on not yet talking trade with Britain writes Simon Marks for Politico
Brexit negotiators are close to an agreement on a key trade issue that diplomats anticipate will be formally wrapped up at the latest round of Brexit talks next week.
With the two sides deadlocked on major stumbling blocks such as how to calculate the U.K.’s financial obligations to the bloc — the so-called Brexit bill — the rapid progress towards an early agreement is the first concrete result from the talks, which have been running since June.
The nearly-done deal on what happens to the EU’s massive food import quotas with other countries after Brexit, is all the more remarkable because it does not conform to the EU’s strict sequencing of the negotiations.
The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier has been adamant that he will not discuss the U.K.’s future relationship with the EU until the talks make “sufficient progress” on three separation issues — the Brexit bill, the rights of EU citizens living in the U.K. post-Brexit and the Northern Irish border. The decision on whether to move on to the next stage will be taken by EU leaders at a European Council summit in October.
As POLITICO reported in July, although trade issues are meant to fall into phase two of the negotiations, the problem of reduced-tariff import quotas raises such a strategic headache for Brussels that EU negotiators have been willing to bend the rules and aim for an early agreement. Diplomats say that the matter has been agreed at a technical level and should be formally wrapped up during next week’s Brexit negotiations.
Lamb chops offer a perfect illustration of the EU’s problem after Brexit.
Tariff rate quotas (TRQs) are mechanisms under which the EU imports agreed tonnages of meat, sugar and grains from around the world with lower-than-usual duties. Brussels, which negotiates a common trade policy on behalf of all 28 states, has 124 TRQs with major agricultural exporters across the globe.
Lamb chops offer a perfect illustration of the EU’s problem after Brexit. Currently, the EU has an agreement to buy 230,000 tonnes of New Zealand’s lamb and goat meat each year, under a quota with reduced tariffs, but Britain traditionally buys 40 percent of this.
So what does the EU do after Brexit? If Brussels spreads the U.K.’s outsize quota among the remaining 27 countries, it will infuriate Europe’s own sheep farmers whose produce would have to compete on the market with the extra supply.
The alternative is to try to divide the 230,000 tonnes between the U.K. and the EU, but this also has legal risks. Big agricultural exporters from Latin America to Australasia could always argue that they lose some of their market access under the new division and could look to sue at the World Trade Organization.
The agreement set to be formally agreed this week is that Britain will carve out and inherit a substantial part, if not all, of its quotas under the EU arrangements, several diplomats said.
“The U.K. is leaving so they can take a bit with them,” said one senior EU official briefed on quota talks. The official added that calculations on the size of the U.K.’s quota will be based on recent trade patterns.
A big push has been made in recent week to seek “convergence on a joint approach” to TRQs with the U.K. so that trade partners in Geneva can be consulted, the official said. After next week’s Brexit talks, the EU is expected to produce an official position paper soon to be sent to the WTO in Geneva as early as next month.No worse off
The EU hopes that it can avoid a big legal showdown in Geneva by citing WTO rules that countries cannot sue as long as they can be shown to be “no worse off” under the new distribution of quotas between the U.K. and EU.
One diplomat also said that big food exporters would be looking to expand their exports to the U.K. when the country negotiates its so-called “schedules” at the WTO.
Schedules are essentially national passports for entering the global trading system and the U.K. will need to negotiate them in the aftermath of Brexit. These schedules will map out Britain’s obligations in terms of tariffs, subsidies and quotas, and negotiations in Geneva will give big exporters an opportunity to wrest bigger import concessions out of Britain.
Despite the imminent agreement on TRQs, there remain severe doubts on the EU that sufficient progress can be made before October.
Britain has been working on the quota question with the EU over recent months, and a spokesperson for Britain’s Department for International Trade said London was fully engaged in resolving the TRQ problem as part of WTO talks.
“In leaving the EU, we will need to update the terms of our WTO membership where, at present, our commitments are applied through the EU as a whole,” the spokesperson said. “The UK wants to ensure a smooth transition which minimizes the disruption to our trading relationships with other WTO Members and tariff rate quotas are one of the issues that we are discussing in a cooperative and transparent way with WTO members.”
Despite the imminent agreement on TRQs, there remain severe doubts on the EU that sufficient progress can be made before October. When asked by journalists at a briefing ahead of next week’s talks whether there was enough time to reach a deal on separation issues a senior EU official said: “We have not yet encountered a situation when lack of time will prevent us from advancing [discussions]. So far, it has been a lack of substance.”
| A Politico release || August 25, 2017 |||
The apple season will still be a bumper despite T&G Global's lower first-half-year profit forecast, says New Zealand Apples and Pears chief executive Alan Pollard and reported by FreshPlaza.
In a NZX announcement T&G Global reported a 49 per cent decrease in first-half-year profit, with poor weather contributing to harvest timing, quality, volume and margin.
"Inclement weather also affected third-party growing partners in New Zealand and internationally, leading to an overall decrease in the volume of fruit available," T&G Global said.
Profitability was also affected by the northern hemisphere where fruit was available for a longer period, delaying the switch to southern produce.
"These issues led to operating profit for the pipfruit division decreasing by $8 million from the same period last year."
Mr Pollard said that, for the whole season, it looked like it would be a similar result to last year nationwide.
"Last year was a record year, so if we do the same we equal our record - you can't complain about that," he said.
| A Fresh Plaza release | August 25, 2017 |||
It's time New Zealand seriously started to invest in promoting technology, the country’s third largest export industry and fastest growing sector of our economy, a leading New Zealand tech businessman says.
NZTech and FinTechNZ chair and Augen Software Group director Mitchell Pham says when Kiwis are in Asia and ask locals what they know about New Zealand, they generally say tourism, education, dairy, beef and lamb, high quality food products and other primary exports – never technology.
“It is highly unlikely that technology innovation or digital products would be mentioned, even though we have thousands of world class tech companies in this country,” he says.
“I want to see New Zealand technology promoted to the world just as we have made a huge effort over the past 20 years to globally feature tourism in this country.
“As a technology entrepreneur who has travelled extensively throughout Asia, the lack of knowledge of Kiwi tech ingenuity is a constant frustration for me. There's no place in the Asian region where I can use the NZ Inc. brand to help position a tech business as being from a well-known high-tech export nation.
“This is why NZTech is actively working to develop the NZ Tech Story in collaboration with Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and New Zealand Story to add being a high-tech nation as an integral part of the story we tell the world about ourselves. We can all participate and add to the development of the story via the NZ Tech Story Forum on LinkedIn.
“New Zealand has invested heavily in promoting education and tourism for decades, which is why we are so well known in Asia for these industries. It's time we make an on-going investment into promoting our fastest growing sector of our economy. The sooner the better, as it will take time to build the brand association between NZ and high-tech nation.”
Pham says the tech sector is not an island. As most Kiwi tech companies are still relatively new to business development in Asia, it would be smart and important for them to work alongside other New Zealand industry sectors which have been doing so for much longer and are therefore bigger, stronger and better known. Technology businesses are more relevant when promoted as part of the sectors that they serve.
Tourism, education, dairy, beef and lamb, fruit, wine, high quality food products, other primary exports, banking and engineering are just some of the sectors that have been developing in Asia for some time, he says.
“Critical mass is important for branding in Asia. So while we haven't got many large tech brands from New Zealand, such as Orion Health and Xero, we do have a large number of tech firms.
“NZ Techweek next year will be a huge opportunity to promote tech. International tech people will come to attend our events and we want to put NZ on the world tech map. Bringing together hundreds of events into the same week is better than spreading them across the calendar. The sheer number of Kiwis who come out to attend the events will also show critical mass and attract attention.
“We should also work smartly by tapping into relevant networks that are available to us. High-value and high-trust networks are full of influencers and connectors, so they are good channels to push the NZ tech story, such as KEA, New Zealand Asian Leaders (NZAL), ASEAN-NZ Business Council and similar networks connected in New Zealand and Asia.”
| A MakeLemonode release || August 28, 2017 |||
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Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242