How will the Chinese free trade deal affect our industry?
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April 7th, 2008
With all the recent signing of our free trade deal with China, what does this mean for our industry? Something which concerns me is the canned fruit of foreign origin which now seems to dominate our selection. Even our Watties tomato sauce appears to be of Chinese origin.
If you’ve travelled through Asia you will know how lucky we are with our produce available in NZ. Is country of origin an issue for NZ consumers?
Did you know we import veges like capsicums from as far away as Holland? If you read my newsletters you’ll already know how much I hate Chinese garlic. I’ve noticed that even New World now state country of origin on their fresh produce. There’s also been a fair amount of re-branding on canned fruit labels recently. Is this because we’re becoming more conscious?
Will this free trade agreement increase imports of Chinese produce and will NZ produce growers continue exporting their prize produce while we import this rubbish? Will our diners be more selective about where their meal was actually from?