COMMERCIAL Trade missions to Arab States paying off

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34103, 16 March 1976, Page 20

COMMERCIAL Trade missions to Arab States paying off

The second major New Zealand trade delegation to visit the Arabian Gulf in the last 12 months departs on March 23.

It is organised by the Export Institute of New Zealand, on behalf of the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation; the 18-member delegation is being accompanied by the New Zealand Trade Commissioner stationed in Teheran (Mr Gordon Lewis), and carries the support and financial assistance of the New Zealand Government.

The delegation leader (Mr David Donaldson) says that an unprecedented number of New Zealand companies are now regularly visiting the Gulf, and securing good repeat export sales as a result. Some of the delegation companies, his own included, will be making their third and fourth visits since March, 1975, which is an indieation of the intensive

approach now being applied to export marketing. The delegation will be selling a wide range of manufactured and processed products direct to Arab businessmen.

Mr Donaldson considers that New Zealand manufacturers and producers are able to sell successfully in the Gulf States because they do not attempt to compete

with cheap merchandise but prefer to concentrate on those factors of product quality, close personal contact, and professional sales promotion techniques, which appeal strongly to Arab businessmen. He said that in this context the deputy leader (Mr Stuart Young) of Interlock Industries Ltd, Wellington, last year studied the requirements of window manufacturers in the Middle East and is returning with the delegation to promote a range of patented aluminium window fittings developed specially for this market, using New Zealand’s flexible tooling, and short run versatility, to full advantage. For similar reasons New

Zealand-made ice cream, wool carpets, aluminium ladders, paper roofing tiles, dinnerwear, small machine tools, agricultural seeds, freezers, plastic containers, builders hardware and engineering equipment, are selling well in addition to the traditional commodities such as timber, meat and dairy products which find ready outlets.

Mr Donaldson says bodies such as the Export Institute recognise the need for a better organised approach to exporting within the commercial sector, and are endeavouring to do something positive about it. Mr Donaldson considers that the Arabian Gulf States are the most prosperous unrestricted markets in the world today, and he feels that the concerted effort in these markets by New Zealand businessmen is paying off.