Almost a year ago a second quality scare in the dairy industry halted the exports of infant milk formula from New Zealand to China, placed at risk the businesses of a number of small and medium exporters and damaged the reputation and brand of New Zealand in China.
Some of those exporters are now out of business, some have had to face significantly reduced turnover and margin and many have had to invest heavily in the China distribution sector just to retain a presence in this market -- money that could have been invested in growing market share and building their export businesses.
Small and medium exporters scrambled to help themselves, visiting China in a bid to save their businesses and the millions of dollars they had invested in this market. They also called for Government support, which occurred in varying degrees. It's worth looking back 12 months on, in the knowledge that both individual businesses and New Zealand have paid a heavy price.
That price is millions of dollars in exports and business investment, the potential of future plant closures in New Zealand and the knowledge that in the same period of time Europe went from having a 15 per cent tariff into China on infant milk formula to 5 per cent, Switzerland signed a free trade agreement with China and New Zealand hasn't responded with a cohesive "in market" strategy to compete.