Tough trade
OPINION: Known for serious trade negotiations with global politicians, top NZ trade official Vangelis Vitalis also knows how to crack jokes.
The FTA would also give more employment in New Zealand, says the New Zealand Wood Council chair, Brian Stanley.
The Prime Minister, John Key, says New Zealand’s main aim in the China FTA upgrade is to reduce dairy quotas, but he also emphasised other improved trade prospects in China, including timber exports.
New Zealand dairy exports to China are presently worth $2.9 billion a year, while forest products are New Zealand’s second most important export to China, at $1.8 billion a year.
Stanley says the New Zealand negotiators will be looking at current non-tariff barriers for New Zealand timber exports to China.
“The Chinese timber industry has all sorts of government assistance against imports, and even when we are competing against other exporters there, such as the US and Canada, the Chinese regulations are stacked against us,” says Stanley.
“We’d also want more transparency in their phytosanitary rules.”
Stanley says the New Zealand industry would like to see the China FTA result in more production and work for processors in New Zealand.
“At the moment China takes more than two-thirds of our log exports, but it lags behind the United States, Australia and Japan for importing processed timber from New Zealand, such as sawn timber, panels and paper.”
