Exporters should be targeting markets such as aspiring middle classes in China where people can afford to buy premium New Zealand produce such as wines, says Agriculture Minister David Carter.
``The challenge we have is to make sure the Chinese middle class gets a taste for New Zealand wine, because that middle class is huge,'' he told Winegrowers NZ's national conference in Blenheim.
``Of China's 1.3 billion people, at least 250 million earn the same per capita income as the average New Zealander, so they can afford our premium products.''
Mr Carter told the conference China was now our second-largest trading partner and that the free trade deal meant from the end of next year there would be no Chinese tariffs on New Zealand wine.
``Our exporters will have a significant advantage over international competitors who will continue to pay tariffs between 14 and 20 percent,'' he said.
Mr Carter said that in March, during a visit to China, he called at a small shop in Harbin, in northern China, which sold only New Zealand wine.
``In the first 12 months it imported $200,000 worth of our wine, in the second year it budgeted to import $2 million,'' he said. ``This is staggering growth.''
The following month, a joint delegation of trade officials and wine industry representatives spent a week in China promoting New Zealand wine.
But Mr Carter noted some producers needed to get to grips with the fact that New Zealand was no longer a low-cost producer.
``We won't, and shouldn't, attempt to compete against other countries on price,'' he told the grapegrowers and winemakers.
``In your game, let the Aussies have the budget market. We must play to our strengths, which is producing a premium product backed by reputation.''
Over the next 40 years the world's population was expected to increase from six billion to nine billion people, he said.
``As a producer of premium products our target will be the upper and middle classes -- the 50 million people in the future that can afford, and are prepared to pay more, for high quality food and beverage that is backed by integrity and reputation,'' he said.
Target the wealthy, Carter tells food exporters
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