March 31, 2005
DCANZ Welcomes FTA Launch
The Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ) has welcomed the announcement that New Zealand and Malaysia are
to begin negotiations on a free trade agreement.
“With Malaysia being New Zealand’s main trading partner within the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), and
one of the top ten markets for New Zealand dairy products in the world, we strongly support building a closer economic
relationship with them,” DCANZ Chairman Earl Rattray said.
Mr Rattray said that although multilateral trade liberalisation remained DCANZ’s foremost objective, bilateral
negotiations could also deliver useful benefits.
“While Malaysia’s tariffs on dairy imports are low by world standards, we would like to see them go to zero to improve
the competitiveness of New Zealand-origin product. Moreover an FTA can significantly improve the in-market business
environment by aligning our policies and practices in areas such as regulation and standards,” he said.
Malaysia is the largest market for New Zealand’s dairy products in the South East Asia region. Dairy products represent
around half of New Zealand’s total exports to Malaysia.
Malaysia has a large milk recombining and processing industry, supplying both local and overseas markets, which relies
on imported dairy ingredients.
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