Ministers discuss NZ-India trade

  India's Minister of Commerce and Industry, Anand Sharma and Trade Minister Tim Groser have issued a joint statement following two days of talks on the New Zealand-India economic relationship.   The Minister’s agreed that New Zealand and India should be able to treble bilateral trade to $3billion by 2014 and set an aim of wrapping up Free Trade Agreement negotiations in 8 to 10 months.    Both ministers spoke at a forum of business leaders in Auckland on 9 May, and Mr Sharma addressed a function in Wellington the following day. Shayne Blake and Prashanta Mukherjee attended the events in Auckland and Wellington, respectively.    The joint statement highlights the potential for cooperation in the agricultural sector, including post-harvest technologies and logistics, clean energy, tourism, films, pharmaceuticals and education.   You can read the statement at the INZBC’s website[http://www.inzbc.org/nz-india-fta/].   

Honey: an export opportunity?

Recent scandals about contamination of honey in India could represent a golden opportunity for fast-moving kiwi exporters.   Early this year Indian honey exports to the EU were blocked due to tests showing antibiotics and heavy metal contamination. Indian authorities have blamed the problem on Chinese honey being “laundered” through India to sidestep an EU ban and US anti-dumping duties.   However, an environmental NGO – the Centre for Science and the Environment, based in New Delhi – recently tested 12 brands of honey samples sold domestically for levels of antibiotics. Multiple antibiotics were found in high amounts in 11 out of the 12 samples tested, including samples from Australia and Switzerland. Together the brands in question accounted for over 85% of domestic sales.   Rules issued under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (India’s main food safety law) do not prescribe maximum limits for antibiotics. But concerns about contamination could prompt India’s food safety regulators...