PACKING GOODS FOR EXPORT

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28368, 29 August 1957, Page 7

PACKING GOODS FOR EXPORT

“Most Feature”

Had he been a New Zealand meat exporter he would have left for the United States on the first plane when he heard that his meat was being refused-, entry because of its packaging, said Mr Gerald Bacon, leader of the Australian Trade Mission, in Christchurch yesterday.

“I would have been off like a shot, instead of waiting for a Government officer—no matter how good—to tell me what was happening and what to do.” This was part of the “get out and sell” policy which was needed today in international trade, said Mr Bacon. If a New Zealand manufacturer found that his goods were meeting sales resistance in the Dominion he would immediately get out to find why. The same rule should apply in overseas trade, instead of exporters relying on the efforts of the few trade commissioners in the main markets. Australians —“we are new at this business too”—were finding that packaging and labelling were most important. Frozen Foods “If you are selling frozen peas to Malaya you want to put some Malayan writing on the packet to tell them what they are, or they might get the idea they are rabbit droppings.”

In Wellington last week all he had heard about was frozen peas, said Mr Bacon, but the present situation was only temporary. TlTere should be a growing market in the Australian cities for New Zealand frozen foods. Another line worth investigating would be currants and berries. In Australia these could be grown only in Tasmania, which concentrated on apple production. “You have many products you can sell us. Here in Christchurch I understand you make some of the best woollen goods there are, rugs and underclothing and boots.”

The mission was welcomed to Christchurch at a reception by the Deputy-Mayor (Cr. George Manning), who said that New Zealand and Australia, as the outposts of Western civilisation in the Pacific, needed closer ties both politically and economically.