Wednesday, 09 December 2020 11:55

Dine with a long spoon

Written by Milking It

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OPINION: Some leaders in the New Zealand dairy industry will be keeping an anxious watch on the growing spat between China and Australia.

With China slapping hefty tariffs of Aussie exports like wine and barley and its senior government officials trading barbs over trade and political issues, fears are things could turn from bad to worse.

Australia has bounced back from its technical recession with solid growth figures and its politicians were quick to point out that they don’t need China for economic growth.

However, NZ cannot think like that. Fonterra accounts for 36% of all dairy imports into China. One dairy insider says the Oz/China impasse should give you chills. “Dine with a long spoon when you trade with China. They can turn the tap off for geo-political reasons any old time.”

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