Tobacco industry fears recommendations

Press, 3 June 1981, Page 10

Tobacco industry fears recommendations

The Government is anxious to keep an indigenous tobacco industry according to the Acting Minister of Trade and Industry (Mr Cooper). He has denied that an Industries Development Commission report suggested 2000 jobs in. the tobacco industry would be endangered after 1985. “On the contrary, the recommendations are aimed at assisting the tobacco growing and manufacturing industries to develop on a sound and stable basis,” he said. . “We are not going to throw the tobacco industry to the wolves. “The ' commission was asked to report on what would be the . appropriate duties to be . applied to tobaccoleaf and tobacco products and on. an appropriate timetable for the gradual removal of import licensing on manufactured tobacco products. “This it has done and the' report has been the subject of thorough and long consultations between the Government and industry representatives,” Mr Cooper said. "The recommendations of the commission are now being considered by the Government. The decisions to be made will be designed to maintain the cigarette-

making industry and a better structured tobacco leafgrowing industry. “These decisions will ensure that continuing employment for New Zealanders is provided in the tobacco growing and manufacturing industries,” Mr Cooper said. But the president of the New Zealand Tobacco Growers’ Federation, Mr Gerald Hunt, said the recommendations for big changes are the result of the Government’s wanting to stop annual loans to growers, worth about $l3 million. Mr Hunt, with other industry sources, said he hoped for major changes to the I.D.C. recommendations. . Commenting on the report, the Leader of the Opposition and member of Parliament for Tasman (Mr Rowling) said he hoped “the people in Wellington” would have more sense than to proceed with the reported recommendations. Mr Rowling said the big question that needed answering was .Why the industry was subjected to the commission’s study. The tobacco industry was subject to updated legislation in 1974. Since then, it had been progressing quietly into a wider range of products. The industry was very la-bour-intensive for a large

part of the year, and the income it produced was important -to his district, Mr Rowling said. He questioned the Government’s involvement. The tobacco industry was not subsidised and Government finance was by way of loans that had to be repaid with interest. The report appeared to repeat suggestions made in •the past that the industry should move into alternative crops such as berries and kiwifruit, Mr Rowling said. But there had been concern about a surplus of berries, while for kiwifruit, an eight-year maturity period was needed. . The Mayor of Motueka (Mr David Kennedy) received a copy of the report early this month. He said there had been a lot of activity behind the scenes since then, and he was hopeful that the recommendations ' would be substantially altered. "I am hopeful that the Government will not adopt the report in its entirety,” he said. “I firmly believe that there will be an industry growing between 1.5 and 2 million kilograms in the Motueka district after the Government has issued its final recommendations,” Mr Kennedy said.