Business body urges negotiators to hold out for high-quality EU trade deal

The country's trade negotiators are being urged to hold out for a meaningful free trade deal with the European Union instead of settling for the sake of it.

The International Business Forum said negotiations with the trading bloc are entering a final phase.

A deal with the 27-member state body is seen as complex, with the EU traditionally giving significant protection to its agricultural sector.

International Business Forum executive director Stephen Jacobi said New Zealand's trade negotiators must not settle for a low-quality deal.

"We do trade agreements to lead to more trade, and to lead to more trade with the European Union we have to include matters that are commercially meaningful," he said.

"If there is not a commercially meaningful offer for our major exports able to be seized at this point, negotiations will need to continue their work."

A successful outcome would need to address New Zealand's major export concerns for dairy, fish, horticulture, meat, wine, manufactured products and services, Jacobi said.

An example of a low-quality deal was one that did not offer new market access in critical areas like meat and dairy, or one that applied costs to the New Zealand economy.

"We know the European Union is pushing very hard this idea of protection for geographical names of certain types of cheeses - that is going to impose costs on our export sector domestically."

But Jacobi said the two most complicated areas in the deal were dairy and beef.

"We have had for many years a tarriff quota for butter in the European Union but the tariff inside the tariff quota has been set too high, so it's impossible to do any business.

"[For beef], where we have a very small quota which needs to be significantly enlarged."

He acknowledged it was a balancing act for New Zealand, but stressed it had to be commercially meaningful.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern meets the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, later this week.