File photo. Dairy cows grazing on a New Zealand farm. Photo: RNZ / Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
New Zealand's dairy industry says financial losses as a result of Canada breaching its trade obligations are continuing to grow.
The Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ) has hit back at a new proposal by Canada to allocate dairy import quota under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) free trade agreement.
Breaches to the agreement were central to a legal case DCANZ took against Canada claiming the North American country was manipulating quotas to block exporters access into the market.
In September New Zealand won the case.
DCANZ executive director Kimberly Crewther said it hoped Canada would move swiftly to bring its system into compliance with its CPTPP obligations after the successful legal battle, but is instead frustrated at its persistence in seeking to avoid agreed dairy market access being utilised.
"Canada has proposed to use a new and complex formula to allocate import quota in a way that will continue to put the majority of quota access in the hands of domestic processors, who have little interest in importing from CPTPP countries, and not in the hands of distributors and other importers including retailers who do want to import," Crewther said.
"This proposal is entirely inconsistent with last year's legal ruling that Canada must allow importers the opportunity to fully utilise the quotas".
She said the proposals for the administration of its dairy tariff rate quotas would take an already restrictive import regime further backwards.
It's estimated New Zealand dairy exporters have lost $120 million worth of trade opportunities due to Canada breaching its commitments in the first three years of CPTPP.