Hawke's Bay to the world
Rockit chief executive Mark O'Donnell says consumer awareness for the brand continues to improve each year.
The Wood Council of New Zealand says the forest and wood processing industry is happy the TPP.
The deal will remove tariffs on wood products across the 12 TPP countries.
"We have yet to see the detail, but we understand that all tariffs on logs and wood products will be reduced to zero. That represents a $9 million saving," says Wood Council chair Bill McCallum.
"While this is not a huge sum in the context of a trade worth $1.5 billion, we anticipate there will be bigger prizes arising from the TPP Agreement."
McCallum says the TPP has focused on tariff reduction and elimination, however with wood products the Council suspects that non-tariff barriers are a much greater impediment to trade.
"Technical barriers that have no scientific justification can prevent the import or use of imported wood products. Subsidies enjoyed by domestic wood processors can also make it impossible for imports to compete fairly."
The Council says the TPP will help exporters of NZ processed wood products who have struggled in the past to compete in markets where they have been excluded by tariffs that escalate rapidly as value is added to a raw material.
"These lost opportunities are not included in the $9 million saving, because current tariffs make exports unprofitable." says McCallum.
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford is claiming “some real success” on the 12 policy priorities it placed before the Coalition Government.
Federated Farmers is throwing its support behind the Fast-track Approvals Bill introduced by the Coalition Government to enable a fast-track decision-making process for infrastructure and development projects.
The latest report from ANZ isn’t good news for sheep farmers: lamb returns are forecast to remain low.
Divine table grapes that herald the start of a brand-new industry in Hawke’s Bay have been coming off vines in Maraekakaho.
In what appears to be a casualty of the downturn in the agricultural sector, a well-known machinery brand is now in the hands of liquidators and owing creditors $6.6 million.
One of New Zealand’s deepest breeder Jersey herds – known for its enduring connection through cattle with the UK’s longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II – will host its 75th anniversary celebration sale on-farm on April 22.