Dumping products should not be allowed in the New Zealand market, says ManufacturingNZ.

Dumping is selling products in an export market at a lower cost than they are sold in their home marketParliament's commerce select committee has been considering a Trade Bill* that would allow dumping to occur in New Zealand as long as a 'public interest' test was followed.

The select committee has now reached deadlock on the issue, and is not able to provide a recommendation to Parliament on whether the Bill should proceed.ManufacturingNZ Executive Director Catherine Beard says the Bill should not proceed.

"This Bill came about because there was seen to be a need to reduce the cost of construction materials for the Christchurch rebuild.

"After the Christchurch earthquakes, the Government suspended penalties, for three years, against Thailand, Malaysia and China for dumping construction products. Now the three-year period is coming to an end, a decision has to be made on what to do about dumping in the future.

"The Bill would allow dumping if a 'public interest' test was applied.

"But manufacturers consider the proposed test would be subjective and unworkable and would make New Zealand-made products vulnerable to unfair predatory pricing by international competitors.

"Anti-dumping rules are important for New Zealand – we depend significantly on international trade, and we follow World Trade Organisation rules in all countries we export to. If we were to dump product in any of our overseas markets we would expect to have anti-dumping penalties imposed.

"New Zealand manufacturers therefore urge lawmakers not to facilitate dumping in New Zealand," Catherine Beard said.

*Trade (Anti-dumping and Countervailing Duties) Amendment Bill

|  A BusinessNZ release  |  Dec 13, 2016  |