CHANGES IN MARKET ACCESS AND CHANGES AT ONIONS NZ James Kuperus : Onions NZ Inc. chief executive
Kazi Talaska – Onions NZ's new market access and development manager
I will not attempt to predict the year ahead because by the time this article comes out, any number of scenarios could have played out. Instead, I will focus on two important events at Onions New Zealand. Changing market access requirements Market access requirements change steadily overtime. In recent years, countries have sought to protect the interests of local producers by putting in place trade restricting barriers, including tariffs, subsidies phytosanitary and biosecurity requirements. However, over the past decade there has been a greater focus on non-tariff barriers, and governments have become interested in areas that were historically managed by private standards. For example, the European Union is looking at Border Carbon Adjustments.
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This will put a tax on certain goods from countries that do not have equivalent emissions tax schemes. In Asia, there is greater emphasis on food safety. Indonesia, Thailand, Russia and to a degree, China, have food safety assurances that must be met, separate to private standards. It would be nice to think that these barriers would diminish with more Free Trade Agreements. However, the reality is that a new era of protectionism is just starting. Over the past decade, changes have been ramping up, with several countries finding slightly different techniques to protect local industries. To stay globally relevant as a small producer, New Zealand needs to be very clever and strategic about how we manage market access. We cannot expect key export markets to grant us access just because we have some nice scenery and lots of sheep. At a government level, we need market access and trade to be recognised as a long-term relationship rather than a transactional exchange.
