Govt keen for apple industry feedback

By PHILIPPA STEVENSON and NZPA

Ten months of controversy over new apple export regulations have failed to translate into comment on their review, prompting the Government to plead for feedback.

Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton said just four submissions had been received on a discussion document his ministry put out at the end of November.

He said those submissions were useful, but he would like more as a basis for Government decisions.

Mr Sutton said the apple industry was racked by controversy last year, and it was important that growers and other industry participants had their say in the direction of their industry.

The ministry review presented several options for changes to the export regulations, which came into effect on April 1 and give apple marketer Enza its near-monopoly on the $600 million, 20-million tray apple crop.

Independent exporters are allowed to operate only if they are complementary to Enza.

In the meantime, Enza has fallen foul of its regulatory overseer, the Apple and Pear Board, for appointing its new and former chief executives to the board of its subsidiary EnzaCool.

The board has issued a decision in which it said the appointment to EnzaCool of former chief executive David Geor, followed by new chief executive Michael Dossor, breached the "arms-length" rules governing the regulated exporter.

The board said it proposed ordering Enza to remove from office any directors of EnzaCool who were also executives of the parent company, Enza.

It also proposed ordering Enza not to make any further such appointments.

EnzaCool, Enza's onshore logistics coolstores company, has two directors.

Until December 15, when Mr Geor resigned suddenly after a short period in the job, he was one of the directors. The other was EnzaCool's general manager.

Mr Dossor was appointed to EnzaCool this month.

Regulations governing Enza dictate that its New Zealand activities and core export business operate separately from each other.

Enza argued there had been no breach of the arms-length rule.

The board issued a provisional decision on December 19, and called for a response by January 9.

It said it did not receive a submission from Enza.

But the board said that at a meeting with Enza on January 9, it was told Enza strongly disagreed with the provisional decision and had relied on previous submissions.

Enza had confirmed this position in a fax on January 9, in which it also advised that Mr Dossor had been appointed an EnzaCool director.

A spokesman for Enza, which has until Wednesday to make submissions on the proposal, said no comment would be made before then.

The closing date for submissions to the MAF review is January 31. Any changes to the regulations will not occur until the 2001-2002 season.

The options canvassed range from a return to a total monopoly single desk seller to total deregulation.

The review also discussed retaining or amending the present regulations, and putting apple exports under the Horticulture Export Authority - an export licensing and oversight body which, since its formation in 1987, has been used mostly for emerging export groups.

When the report was released, Pipfruit Growers chairman Phil Alison said the long-term issues it covered needed addressing, but that growers had to first get through the short-term.

They were very concerned about their immediate future under an Enza which had operated like a co-operative until last year when it had become dominated by corporates Guinness Peat Group and FR Partners.