New Zealand Deputy Secretary of Trade Vangelis Vitalis made headlines in August when he spoke of many seafood exporters failing to take advantage of free trade agreement benefits at the annual Seafood New Zealand conference.
New research conducted by Seafood New Zealand and Aquaculture New Zealand, with support from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, however, suggests that the losses were initially overstated.
Vitalis’s keynote address to the conference, in which he said that up to 40 percent of exporters were failing to take advantage of the preferential FTAs, initially left the industry in some confusion, according to the New Zealand Herald.
At the time, Seafood New Zealand Head Lisa Futscheck said that his warning had “highlighted a gap between what the officials are telling us around what is required and what our sector had understood was required.” Futscheck said her organization would work to help their members take advantage of the “returns from these amazing free trade agreements.”
Follow-up research provided a clearer picture of the situation, however, and Seafood New Zealand and Aquaculture New Zealand have reassured the industry, via a release, that the problem was “relatively minor.”
“In fact,” the two organizations said, “the majority of our seafood exports are doing exactly the right thing–entering their markets taking advantage of the benefits the FTAs provide.”
“There are a small number of exceptions in some specialist product lines (such as extracts and powders) and niche markets, where the preferential treatment hasn’t always been claimed,” they said. “Seafood New Zealand and Aquaculture New Zealand are now making sure relevant exporters have the information they need to enable their importers to take full advantage of the preferential tariff treatment, where it applies.”
The FTAs in question have or will eliminate tariffs on almost all the country’s fish and seafood exports within the next five years. They include agreements between New Zealand and the European Union and the United Kingdom, as well as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Though the benefits are claimed directly by importers abroad, they allow New Zealand exporters to negotiate preferential prices from their importers. Seafood New Zealand and Aquaculture New Zealand reiterated that they were available to “talk through” the process with “any seafood exporter [who] is worried they’re not taking full advantage of the benefits.”
