BREAKING NEWS
www.foodtechnology.co.nz 3
EDITOR'S NOTE
Welcome to 2019, another year bound to
be filled with success and – without doubt
– drama. On top of the pile is Brexit – will
they, won’t they – and we’ve commissioned
a Kiwi expert to tell us what to expect (see
below). There’s plenty to read this month…
new food tampering laws mooted, Westland’s
dairy industry celebrating 150 years, what’s
smokin’ down Taranaki way, Maori culture
being abused in product branding and
opening factories up to public tours.
It has been a pleasure editing this magazine
for more than three years. Any further
correspondence please email Greg Robertson
on greg@hayleymedia.com.
Have a great February.
Kathryn Calvert
Editor NZ FOODTechnology
Amid the political chaos and economic vagaries
accompanying the UK’s difficult withdrawal
from the EU, there’s one absolute certainty for
New Zealand and others like us – new FTAs
are the best means of ensuring continuity and
growth in trade with that part of the world. In
the UK, the terms of any Brexit agreement that
could win Parliamentary support have proved
exceptionally allusive. A ‘no deal’ Brexit has
looked increasingly likely over the months,
this heightening the chaos and uncertainty
around the UK’s relationship with Europe
even more. The Economist - among others -
has predicted an extension of the March 29
deadline – surely there is no real downside to
that – and an eventual acceptance that Brexit
cannot be negotiated into one all-encompassing
agreement between the UK and the EU.
Whatever the political and diplomatic outcome,
there are certainly big implications for New
Zealand’s $6 billion export trade with Europe,
this including $1.5 billion into the UK largely
in the form of meat and wine. The UK was our
sixth largest export market in the latest year.
Obvious questions arise from the prospect of
sharp contraction in trade flows between the
UK and the EU. British lamb producers send
some 65,000 tonnes of product to Europe
each year: What happens to demand for
New Zealand lamb in the UK if that tonnage
goes, instead, onto the domestic market? Are
there sudden new demands for New Zealand
consumer products in the EU? What happens
to this country’s Europe-bound exports which
travel via the UK? The biggest concern for
all is the risk of recession triggered by major
trade disruptions within and between the UK
and the EU – this being most likely under a ‘no
deal’ scenario – which knock down consumer
spending, confidence and employment. New
Zealand food exporters are forever exposed
to economic cycles in major export markets.
Any deep or prolonged recession is always to
be dreaded. The call for FTA is hardly new, of
course. New Zealand began talks with the EU
on exactly this last June. And shortly after, the
UK Government announced its intention to give
priority to negotiating FTAs with New Zealand,
Australia and the United States in the post-Brexit
era. Over recent months, officials in Wellington
have a run public consultation exercise on
what people expect from an FTA with the UK.
According to Trade Minister David Parker,
“our shared history, similar legal structures
and openness to trade mean a high quality,
comprehensive and progressive free trade
agreement is a natural next step after Brexit.” In
fact, getting FTAs with as many other countries
as possible is today the proverbial ‘no brainer’
for open, trading nations like New Zealand. But
Brexit, and its myriad uncertainties, does add a
whole lot more urgency to whatever engagement
we can get with Brussels and London. FTAs
are a natural counter-weight to mounting risks
of trade disruption and recession in the UK and
Europe. There are other counter-weights as
well – and these are worth remembering in early
2019 lest we worry too much about political
chaos at Westminster, and television images of
people pushing and shoving on the streets of
England. Britain and Europe do remain heavily
locked into the world’s wider trading systems
– both the World Trade Organisation rules for
promoting fair and competitive trade between
160 nations and the many rules and processes
long agreed across borders by industries and
businesses who operate today’s indispensable
global supply chains. GS1’s global standards for
item identification, data sharing and e-commerce
are one example of the less-obvious counter-
weights at work in trading systems. The UK
Government acknowledges the importance
of individual business relationships across its
borders and into the EU with official guidance on
a website, https://euexitbusiness.campaign.
gov.uk. That’s one of the ways any New Zealand
exporter or importer can stay better informed. In
truth, Brexit might eventually favour our trading
fortunes with both the UK and Europe. It will
depend on how any Brexit deal, or no deal,
plays out in those economies and on the FTA
successes of clever Kiwi trade negotiators.
History suggests they might do us proud.
In 1973 when Britain found its way into the
European Economic Community – get the irony
– New Zealand is recorded as having negotiated
the best trading terms it possibly could for
the years thereafter. What’s more, it spurred
the diversification of our export markets which
has long since laid the foundation for today’s
relatively resilient and prosperous economy.
www.gs1nz.org
Brexit
Calling New Zealand’s best trade negotiators! We need to forge
free trade agreements (FTAs) with both the United Kingdom and the
European Union as soon possible after Brexit (although no-one really
knows when that will be), says GS1 New Zealand’s Gary Hartley.
/gov.uk
/euexitbusiness.campaign
/www.foodtechnology.co.nz
/www.gs1nz.org
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