The Beehive, 7 April 2016 - New Zealand’s 1.5 billion-dollar wine industry will gain duty-free access into seven new countries under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Trade Minister Todd McClay, on a visit to Marlborough to discuss TPP, told exporters that the region’s 140 wineries would be significant winners under the agreement.

“We already sell almost a billion dollars’ worth of wine into TPP countries. The United States is New Zealand’s biggest wine exporting destination and it, alone, is worth almost half a billion dollars each year. We have never achieved duty-free access, but now, under TPP, that is exactly what we get – and almost all of those tariffs are eliminated on entry into force,” says Mr McClay.

The seven new duty-free markets are the US, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Peru, Malaysia and Vietnam.

“New Zealand winegrowers have been subject to heavy tariffs, particularly in emerging markets. Mexico currently has a 20 per cent tariff and Vietnam has a 50 per cent tariff. The reduction, and eventual elimination, of these tariffs will encourage our winegrowers into new markets.

“However there are also major gains in some of our biggest markets. We export more than $100 million of wine into Canada each year – all tariffs are eliminated as soon as TPP comes into force.

“As I travel around New Zealand talking about TPP, every region has an exporting success story.

“Behind these success stories are companies prospering and adding jobs because of free trade agreements,” says Mr McClay.