KEY POINTS:
The cost of tariff barriers is rising and years of talk about free trade have had little impact on growers, says Horticulture New Zealand.
A report yesterday by Horticulture New Zealand and the New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority said about $197 million in tariffs was paid by horticultural exporters to importing countries in the year ending June 30.
The report, which is produced every two years, said tariffs were up $22 million or 13 per cent on 2006, although exports were also up by about $282 million to $2 billion.
Horticulture New Zealand president Andrew Fenton said the report was good and bad.
"Because some of that is a lift in export value," Fenton said.
"Nevertheless, the report still does show that the cost per grower ... is huge and that really puts some difficulty in front of growers to be cost competitive with other countries that they are exporting to."
About 60 per cent of production is exported, with the average tariff cost per grower up $3000 on 2006, to $28,000.
"Obviously, as we sell more products overseas, we will pay correspondingly more in tariffs," Fenton said.
"But it is quite disheartening to see that all the talk of free trade in recent years really has had little effect on what growers actually earn."
The tariff cost for a buttercup squash grower was up $8000 at $66,000, while the cost for kiwifruit growers was down $13,000 to $32,000.
"That for an individual grower might be the difference between making a profit or making a substantial loss," Fenton said.
The four largest markets of the European Union, Japan, Australia and the United States accounted for 76 per cent of total horticultural exports and $62.6 million of tariffs, which was on average 4.1 per cent of the export value.
The global economic downturn would not hurt the push for free trade, he said.
"Free trade, tariff barriers are long term. This recession might be one or two years, we've got to take a longer-term view than that," Fenton said.
"Well I think we've just got to keep the impetus going and the Government up to speed as far as the importance of negotiating these tariffs down to as low a level as possible."
Horticulture Export Authority chief executive Simon Hegarty said a growing number of technical barriers also needed to be addressed.
"A cost that isn't represented in this study is the price growers pay to conform to export certification regimes put in place by importing countries as protection for their own growing environments," Hegarty said.
"Other costs faced by our exporters include being denied access to markets on technical grounds, often driven by politics at the expense of sound science."
HORTICULTURAL LEVIES
$2 billion worth of exports, up 16 per cent on 2006.
$197 million of tariff costs, up 13 per cent on 2006.
$687 million of exports to the European Union.
$42.3 million of European Union tariffs.
