Pay attention to the EU Free Trade Agreement recommends the managing director of one of New Zealand’s leading heavy and production engineering companies. Ken Evans of Napier Engineering & Contracting stresses that markets “come and go” and the EU zone opportunity now presented a balance to Asia.

Mr Evans’ company has a long association with the EU’s Nordic members through the refurbishment of fish processing equipment.

“There is this mind-set to the effect that the EU is too advanced for our level of technology.

“Yet in certain sectors, and especially in food processing equipment, we can offer improved price performance.”

Freight costs were now a negligible component of the installed price of such equipment, noted Mr Evans (pictured.) The EU FTA would reduce the real problem which was in fact embodied in the wider category of unofficial obstacles to installing New Zealand-manufactured agri-business and food processing equipment, he said.

An overlooked benefit was that New Zealand’s heavy and production engineering capacity was grouped around its major ports. This meant that transporting heavy machinery by sea from manufacturer to user “strange as it may seem” was more effective “than transporting it across European roads.”

The history of New Zealand production engineering exporting demonstrated an often “violent oscillation” between markets.. The EU FTA, he said, offered a cushion, “another basket” and the pending agreement should be taken very seriously, he urged.

From the MSCNewsWire reporters' desk