Friday, March 29, 2024

Dairy access details released

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Complex but rather underwhelming details of New Zealand dairy access to the huge United States market under the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) have been published.
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Time periods for duty-free access range from 10 years to 30 years, beginning with infant formula and ending with milk powders.

NZ will also gain duty-free access to a range of “TRQs” covering selected dairy products to the US.

About $800 million worth of trade in existing protein products will become tariff-free when the TPP is enacted, the US Department of Agriculture said.

These are products such as milk and whey protein concentrates and casein, used in foodservice and dairy ingredients markets by the Fonterra joint venture with Dairy Farmers of America, Dairiconcepts.

Milk powders and cheese have safeguards attached to them, effectively preventing NZ from swamping the US market.

The USDA released details after Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack defended the outcome of the TPP as it affected the dairy industry.

He defended the “balanced” package of concessions, new access in key markets and export opportunities in smaller dairy markets like Malaysia and Vietnam.

“Look, trade agreements are obviously negotiated, and it is important for folks to recognise that not any single party to a trade agreement gets everything they want, that it is give-and-take,” Vilsack said.

“And in the dairy industry in particular, markets were opened a bit to New Zealand, and markets were also opened to US product in Canada and Japan.”

He called the balance “OK” when considered over all of the different products involved, the gains and losses within each product, and the innovation and new product opportunities.

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