N.Z.’s potential as a supplier promoted

Press, 3 July 1985, Page 41

N.Z.’s potential as a supplier promoted

By

CHRIS PETERS

NZPA staff correspondent Sydney New Zealand trade officials in Queensland are about to raise New Zealand’s image there to cash in on the growing tourism boom and greater interest in New Zealand as a supplier. • The move, according to New Zealand’s trade commissioner and consul in Brisbane, Mr Jeremy Spanjaard, is to boost local awareness of New Zealand as a quality supplier, and to try to counter an undercurrent of prejudice against New Zealand and its goods. “It’s time to show that New Zealand produces good quality products and that we have nothing to be ashamed of — for New Zealand companies to come out of the closet.” Trade between New Zealand and Queensland is still in the minor league compared with what the nation sells to New South Wales and Victoria, but it has shown the biggest value increase with a phenomenal jump of nearly 50 per cent in 1983-84 on the previous year. That figure was distorted because Australia was in an economic slump in 1982-83, but in the first 10 months of this year New Zealand has already sold more than SA79 million worth of exports to the Sunshine State, only SA9 million worth less than last year. In previous years the in-

creases were of 20 and 32 per cent respectively, while trade the other way, boosted by bulk alumina and sugar, was running at twice that amount. According to Mr Spanjaard, the big growth areas for New Zealand are food and horticultural products, building, and marine supplies. The problem is supply. “I am getting 100 new inquiries a month from importers wanting to buy New Zealand goods, but the problem is often finding companies to fill the orders,” he said. “Some New Zealand exporters are already fully committed in southern states and what we need to do is to get the firms already doing business in Queensland to sell more.” With only one “direct” shipping service into Queensland — the Forum line which first visits the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea giving it a trans-Tasman delivery time of nearly a month — and air freight capacity from New Zealand stretched almost to the limit, officials are trying to get the airlines and shipping services together in a bid to improve services. The bulk of New Zealand’s trade with Queensland is shipped into Sydney or Melbourne then trucked or railed north at an additional cost running about SAI4OO-SAI6OO. The irony of the situation

is that there is surplus capacity going back the other way, and New Zealand officials are also trying to increase return business on the premise that greater traffic will generate greater cargo capacity, and Queensland firms selling into New Zealand will also buy more there. But the prime mover on the Queensland economic front is the growing tourist boom, and the New Zealanders believe that if they can get in on the ground floor, their business will grow with it. The first move to cash in on that will be a promotion with Focus New Zealand pushing New Zealand housing and interior decorating supplies. Focus, a trade promotion organisation backed both by the New Zealand Government and private industry, had prepared a compendium of New Zealand suppliers of everything from door knobs to roofing materials, and the trade officials are about to push that among Queensland builders, developers and interior decorators. The next move will come in October when the trade officials launch a food promotion among the catering, hotel and restaurant industries both in Queensland and in its resorts. Mr Spanjaard said that would start with a huge lunch of New Zealand food imports cooked and prepared the way they should

be, then a promotion run through Queensland restaurants and offering monthly prizes and a grand prize holiday in New Zealand. The whole deal, comprising 25-30 New Zealand companies would cost around $A20,000. Then, in September, four New Zealand boat building companies will be exhibiting in a Brisbane boat show, showing off their products and marine supplies. But New Zealanders, who pride themselves on their exporting acumen, still have a thing or two to learn when it comes to Queensland. “There is a resentment here that many New Zealand companies do not have agents in Queensland and try to service this market from the southern states,” said Mr Spanjaard. “There is also some antipathy to New Zealand products from the consumer, partly because of prejudice and the New Zealand dolebludger image, but more so because we probably are not as well known as a supplier as we could be. “This is not helped when some, particularly marine suppliers, take orders from Queensland companies and then do not deliver on time. “The marine field is a very big growth area, especially with the tourism boom, but some buyers here have complained to me that they are not going to buy from us in future but will do it themselves or go elsewhere.”