SFF joins the slaughter
Meat processor and exporter Silver Fern Farms Ltd has joined fellow South Island-based meat company Alliance Group in reporting a big loss for the past year.
However, he believes it's an excellent outcome for others - especially kiwifruit.
Speaking at the recent Silver Fern Farms farmer forum in Christchurch earlier this month, Groser told the 1,000 farmers in attendance that the EU deal - along with the earlier FTA agreed with the UK - provided an insurance policy for NZ exports should anything go wrong with China.
"It would have been a complete fantasy for us to think we were going to negotiate a FTA with the EU comparable with FTAs that we or the Australians have secured with UK," he told the conference.
"I am not going to make any judgement on whether we should have pulled away from the negotiations or not. As someone who has often been in the middle of many negotiations, it can look vastly different from inside from what it does on the outside."
Groser said NZ negotiators would have wanted more for our dairy and meat, but he would not break the long-standing bi-partisan tradition on trade to criticise the current Government for making the deal.
"It is what it is - to use John Key's favourite phrase," he added.
Groser said New Zealand's number one priority now should be to ensure that the NZ and Australian FTAs go through both the House of Commons and House of Lords.
"There are two truly world-class FTAs, which will give us a lot of insurance shoud China go south in the years ahead - especially if the UK comes into the CPTPP."
Groser, who was NZ's US ambassador after leaving politics, also told the audience that the chances of NZ securing a free trade deal with the US are almost zero.
"The CPTPP was the only chance of NZ ever getting a FTA with the US and that was destroyed when Trump made the absurd decision to withdraw from the CPTPP."
He added that the US stance on free trade deals had gone "further south" since then and therefore there was no chance of NZ securing a FTA with the US any time soon.
Meanwhile, Groser highlighted the importance of the WTO system for the benefit of international trade and small players like NZ.
"The WTO is capable of making some steps forward, but they are baby steps and they are glacial," he added.
"However, it is of vital importance that the WTO system does not break down, no matter how glacial its progress."
Don't Panic
Meanwhile, Tim Groser told attendees at the Silver Fern Farm that he was not overly exercised about world geopolitical issues or the country's export reliance on the Chinese market as it related to NZ farming.
"New Zealand's agriculture sector is first class and has faced tougher times in the past," he said. "We are not as exposed to China now as we were to the UK when it entered the EEC."
Groser said at the time the UK entered the EEC (EU) in 1973, NZ's exports to the UK accounted for more than 50% of our total exports and today China accounts for around 22% of our total exports (37% of agri exports). "That means our exports to other countries - other than China - account for 78% of our total exports."
Groser said NZ's first-class agri sector has demonstrated repeatedly its resilience and ability to adapt and adjust to challenges and changes in international markets.
"I am not selling the argument that we live in the best of times," he added. "But we have demonstrated resilience and facing new challenges before and if I can sum it up in a few words, it is this: 'We will be alright'."
