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Tuesday, 02 May 2023 12:55

'Zero protection for local cheesemakers'

Written by  Sudesh Kissun
Whitestone cheese managing director Simon Berry. Whitestone cheese managing director Simon Berry.

Local cheesemakers are facing competition from subsidised frozen EU imports flooding the NZ market, tariff-free, says Whitestone Cheese managing director Stephen Berry.

Berry says NZ's open door trade policy provides zero protection to New Zealand domestic producers.

"Inferior industrially bulk manufactured EU cheese are becoming more and more prevalent in our market as a result."

Another challenge facing local cheesemakers is accessing naming rights already used in Europe.

Cheese produced in New Zealand branded as 'feta' will have to find another name under the free trade agreement (FTA) the Government recently secured with the European Union.

The deal includes what are referred to as geographic indications (GI), which are names of products unique to a certain area that a country or market wants to protect.

"The naming rights of feta is an opportunity for NZ producers to stamp our quality mark on our own NZ fetas, separating them from the inferior EU bulk industrial shipments. It will be interesting to see if Danish feta cheese, where the majority is produced in Europe, is able to use the Greek certified name," says Berry.

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