New quotas announced by China are unlikely to have an impact on beef exports said Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The government believes new quotas on beef imports to China are unlikely to have a major impact on New Zealand exporters.
China announced quotas following an investigation into the impacts of imports on its domestic beef industry.
From Thursday, New Zealand will have an annual duty-free quota of just over 200,000 tonnes, potentially worth up to $1.75 billion.
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay said while the quota is larger than those of the past two years, it is nevertheless unwelcome.
McClay said he had made a case to Chinese officials that New Zealand exporters were not harming the Chinese beef market.
"I've been able to make the case to my Chinese counterparts on three occasions last year that New Zealand exporters are not harming the Chinese beef market and therefore should not be adversely affected by an safeguard measures.
"Our quota allocation means beef exports under the China NZ FTA are in practice unaffected," McClay said.
China was New Zealand's second-largest beef market after the United States.
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