Fruit giant dishes out a dose of reality

By Philippa Stevenson

One call for free trade during the Apec melee went unnoticed by the rich and powerful. It was made on Friday, far from Auckland's madding crowd, at the apple growers' frenzied gathering in Hastings.

The industry has just re-regulated itself up to the eyeballs. But for two days the small but vocal group of would-be free traders led by the irrepressible Nelson grower Danny Freilich never missed a chance to put a case for deregulation.

Freilich made his point best - and most succinctly - after mention was made of the benefits for New Zealand of international free trade.

"That's what we want - free trade," he said.

For one heartbeat the possibility of hypocrisy - demanding free trade from others but not from ourselves - stopped delegates in their tracks.

Then the awkward moment was overwhelmed by the current of desperation running through proceedings. Some 200 growers, their incomes devastated by collapsed market returns, went back to grappling with issues such as how to allocate shares in the restructured Enza.

But clearly Freilich and his band will not move on to other issues. Neither will Food and Fibre Minister John Luxton or the bureaucrats' Producer Board Project Team dedicated to total deregulation.

Unfortunately, Minister and team were not around for the dose of market reality offered by chief executive David McCann of Fyffes, Europe's largest fresh produce distributor.

According to the quietly spoken Irishman "the market thinks New Zealand fruit walks on water. Whether it can stay there is the question."

Yet, Fyffes, let alone the much smaller Enza, had little or no clout with the increasingly powerful multinational retail chains who are their customers. The only solution was "to grow and grow - and that's not to get ahead."

In contrast, Freilich believes there are niche markets waiting for entrepreneurial New Zealanders, and no doubt he is right. However, the industry - rather than the individual - needs long term to base its business on alliances with the powerful not the passing.

Enza chairman John McCliskie advised growers "to recognise that as we spend time debating issues in New Zealand, our competitors and customers are getting on with their business."

But Enza has to clean up its act after this year's marketing fiasco. It must also allay fears it's a monopoly stifling marketing innovation out of conceit, fear, bloody mindedness or stupidity.

The new "arms-length" export consent regulations must be seen to be working for those who want to go it alone outside Enza. Open the valve on the free marketeers and pressure is likely to drop on the new industry structure.

Then perhaps the bulk of the industry can rise to the challenge put by Labour Agriculture spokesman Jim Sutton - to show its new structure "achieved the best of both worlds" delivering better than either total regulation or total deregulation.