“N.Z. Not Selling Hard Enough”

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31154, 2 September 1966, Page 12

“N.Z. Not Selling Hard Enough”

A Christchurch engineer and businessman, Mr B. R. Homersham, has returned from a trip during which he visited 20 countries convinced that New Zealand is not doing enough to sell its products overseas and also not doing enough to process food before it is exported.

“When you see the aggression that goes into selling overseas you realise that we are just not in the hunt,” he said yesterday.

Mr Homersham’s business is mainly concerned with importing, but whenever he goes on a business trip he is prepared to be a seller of any New Zealand produce. It was disappointing for him, therefore, to find that New Zealand had no agency at the Poznan trade fair in Poland. This was the shop window of the East, he said.

It was a wonderful opportunity for New Zealand to show its wares, particularly now that there was a renewed Common Market threat and New Zealand had to find new markets. “But we weren’t there,” he said. Dairy Products

New Zealand had to rely heavily on its dairy products, but butter still went away by the hundredweight, Mr HomJrsham said. If the customers wanted butter packed attractively, or even flavoured, then New Zealand should provide it. Similarly, there should be more effort put into the marketing of cheese. "It's there in the shops in Britain if you want to buy it,” he said, “but there is no special promotion.” New Zealand was not doing enough processing of its products. Many of them were shipped out as raw materials, whereas if they were processed locally, and technology was well able to provide the processing, the country could benefit by the added value. “A little bit of market research might give us some horrible shocks,” he said. “We should know what the buyers want.”

Mr Homersham also had firm views on the need for economic union with Australia. “I would settle for some loss of sovereignty to achieve closer economic union,” he said. “We badly need some

British power in this part of the world. We aim at speaking with one voice internationally. We are complementary, Australia with its natural resources and us with our food products. The trouble is rugged individualism on both sides of the Tasman.”

For the first time Mr Homersham went to Communist countries, visiting Russia, Poland and Czechoslovakia. Although the language barrier was formidable, he was kindly received in Russia and visited several factories making electrical equipment. When it came to talking trade, however, he had to go to a Government agency and he found that trade in the foreseeable future was likely to be successful only in relatively large deals. Eastern European countries were interested in trade with New Zealand, mainly on a deal-to-deal basis, almost barter. There was a possibility that New Zealand could buy some things better from Communist countries than elsewhere because they wanted foreign exchange. In Russia, Mr Homersham found that the absence of competition led to products which were functionally good but which lacked finish and styling. As one went into Poland and then Czechoslovakia there was a merging of Western ideas and finish was given its place as well as functional efficiency. “Sad Picture”

The United Kingdom was a “sad picture,” he said. Management was ready and willing to improve the cost structure and increase exports, but it was hampered by the restrictive outlook of organised

labour. One case he cited was a factory installing machinery to improve production whereupon the union said 10 men had been replaced by the machines so it would need 10 men to watch them. Mr Wilson and other leaders had talked about the economic problems, but had not emphasised that the need was to produce more. Britain was now finding out what New Zealand had found 20 years ago—that it had to live within its income.

Perhaps some of the trouble was caused by an attitude of people that they had arrived at their destination. The standard of living in Britain had improved tremendously in the last 20 years. People now owned television, cars and homes, whereas 20 years ago they were not even sure of their jobs. “When you think you have arrived there is no incentive to go further and produce more,” Mr Homersham said. “That is the trouble with some of our New Zealand farmers as well.” But Mr Homersham was still glad to get home. “It may not be God’s own country, but it’s still nice to see the open space,” he said. Commercially New Zealand had a good image overseas. It was a small country, but unlike some of the emerging nations it had not cancelled orders or repudiated contracts. “Even when we repudiated the cotton mill agreement there was compensation,” he said.