High $NZ concerns producer boards

Press, 6 October 1987, Page 47

High $NZ concerns producer boards

The New Zealand Meat Industry Association and the Dairy Board have expressed concern at the high value of the New Zealand dollar. The executive director of the Meat Industry Association, Mr Peter Blomfield, said the high value of the New Zealand dollar was having a debilitating effect on the export meat sector.

He said that while a high valued kiwi may have appeal for some sectors of the economy, it was no good at all for meat producers or exporters.

“Where exporters work hard against the odds to see market returns increased in countries where inflation is almost static, they see those very real advances wiped out by the tide of an un-

characteristically high exchange rate at home. “Producers and exporters could be forgiven for thinking they were in a no-win situation,” he said.

The current exchange rate has overshadowed the efforts of producers and exporters alike, Mr Blomfield said.

And the high value of the New Zealand dollar is forcing the Dairy Board to shift some of its further processing operations overseas, according to spokesman, Mr Neville Martin.

The returns from added-value products, for example, canned milk or packaged cheese were not high enough for them to be made in New Zealand because of the exchange rate. Their price overseas

was being eroded to the extent that when workers’ wages were taken into account, it was much cheaper to process products on foreign shores, he said.

Bulk raw products like whole milk powder were already being shipped to Singapore and the extra value, in this case cans, was being added there, Further processing was already taking place In countries like the Philippines, Britain and in the Caribbean.