New Zealand and its Asia-Pacific partners could earn billions from improving its digital trade uptake, according to a new study.
File image. Photo: 123rf
Digital trade is the digitalisation of paper based trade, which speeds up the trading process.
The study by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) found that if digital trade improved along New Zealand's supply lines, both it and its Asia-Pacific Economic Corporation trading partners could gain up to $18 billion over the next decade.
NZIER principal economist Chris Nixon said New Zealand had made a good start in digitalising trade, but it could improve.
"The point about that is we signed the DEPA - the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement with Chile and Singapore, this is a start," he said.
There were other countries wanting to join the agreement, including Canada, China and South Korea.
"So we have made an initial start, but there's a long way to go."
Nixon said digital trade could speed up processes from two days to five minutes.
"It comes as no surprise to those working in the supply chain that the cost reductions are significant. Recent examples showed that a single shipment could pass through 30 different organisations, with up to 200 communications about that shipment."
The benefits of digital trade had been apparent during the pandemic and it had increased the openness of exporters to adopt digital solutions for trade documentation, he said.
"The benefits of digital trade solutions have been brought into stark contrast during the pandemic when it has not been possible to deliver the right paper - with wet signatures and stamps - to the right ports in the appropriate timeframe."
The report was commissioned by trade-tech company, TradeWindow.
Its chief executive A J Smith said the findings were positive.
"[They] come at a time when the New Zealand government is playing an active leadership role with the other APEC economies to encourage the adoption of digital trade.
"It is helpful to see the economic benefits quantified and also to appreciate that these benefits are shared across the supply chain with the producer, transport companies, regulatory agencies and customer and consumer."