N.Z. launches big trade sales drive in Japan

Press, 24 April 1984, Page 1

N.Z. launches big trade sales drive in Japan

From BRUCE ROSCOE New Zealand exporters have launched their biggest sales drive into the Osaka region of Japan since Expo 70.

Early indications from representatives of 20 New Zealand business interests exhibiting at the sixteenth Osaka International Trade Fair were that new markets would be secured for some products while a higher consumer awareness would stimulate sales of items already on the market. The region represents a market the size of Australia and New Zealand combined. More than one million consumers and businessmen are expected to visit the 10day fair, which opened on Friday. About 60 nations are participating in the fair, the largest of its kind in Asia. Osaka Japanese are a highly commercial species. Instead of saying “Konnichi wa,” meaning “hello,” they often greet each other with “Mo kari makka,” which means, “Are you making money?” New Zealand apparelmakers will not need to ask themselves that question. The answer is obvious.

At least one new buyer was found for Knight Industries sheepskin and leather items. Mr Grant Asher, Knight Industries’ vicepresident for marketing, predicted that this year’s sales would double the 1983 figure. Marguerite Leatherwear, Ltd, Christchurch, reported high interest in jackets and coats, which were being sold directly to consumers at the fair. “We will run out of stock in two days,” said Mr Barry Sligh, Marguerite’s managing director. More stock from Marguerite supplies in Tokyo had to be taken to the fair.

Mr Sligh said some of the apparel had been made in New Zealand from imported Spanish skins, and the fashion designs used for items to be exported to Japan were more sophisticated than designs for products sold in New Zealand.

Lane Walker Rudkin Export, Ltd, maker of Canterbury sports and casual wear, also appears to have noted the Japanese apparel market trend toward highfashion designer items. Its rugby jerseys now ap-

pear in rainbow colours and the range includes women’s one-piece dresses made from striped rugby jersey material.

“Sold as rugby jerseys, they were gathering dust at the back of sports sections of some department stores,” said Mr Atsuo Seshimo, the L.W.R. Japanese agent. “But promoted as fashion wear, they get much better placing.” Kiwifruit, kiwifruit wine, roofing material, meat and dairy products, frozen vegetables, biscuits, wooden puzzles, health tablets made from a green mussel extract, and carpets, were among other New Zealand exhibits. Interest seemed high in Gerard Roofing Systems steel-based, stone-coated tiles. Mr Hirokazu Kato, of Shizuoka Rekisei Kogyo Company, Ltd, which distributes the tiles, said a 25year surface guarantee and 10-year steel guarantee gave the product an edge over Japanese tiles. None of these carried guarantees, he said. Colyer Watson Company, Ltd, promoted calf and

lamb pelts and forecast a substantial rise in the company’s meat and bone meal sales to Japan this year. New Zealand Milk Products Japan, Ltd, displayed cheese packs with a distinctive white-against-green marking of the New Zealand map to complement a television advertising campaign begun in Tokyo last month. New Zealand Milk Products has proposed to several Japanese cheese manufacturers, which have been selling New Zealand cheese under their own labels, that they print the mark on the packs. Snow Brand Milk Products Company, Ltd, a big importer of New Zealand processed cheese, has agreed to the proposal. It was the first time for New Zealand companies to participate in the fair. New Zealand was granted guest country status, and exporters and their agents shared exhibiting costs under a proposal by the New Zealand Embassy at Tokyo, which organised the event so that all New Zealand companies’ exhibits would benefit from a national “umbrella.”