In his last speech as trade minister, Labour leader Phil Goff has warned that the current global economic downturn could lead to New Zealand agricultural exporters facing new trade barriers.
Mr Goff addressed a Federated Farmers conference in Wellington just before National's new ministerial lineup was sworn inat Parliament today.
He used his last speech as trade minister to list New Zealand's many recent trade achievements, but warned that the downturn which has seen many of the world's economies slide into recession could prove dangerous.
"Although the drop in the value of our dollar is helping our exporters, we are facing the most serious economic crisis since the great depression of the 1920s.
"There are worrying signs that protectionist pressures are building in some key markets.
"These pressures may be most acute in the highly politically sensitive area of agriculture."
But Mr Goff said despite the challenges the downturn posed, the overall outlook for New Zealand agriculture was positive with a growing world population in need of food and biofuels production pushing commodity prices higher.
But he said New Zealand needed to continue working hard to maintain and increase market access. Local agriculture also needed to commit to sustainability so New Zealand maintained a marketing advantage over its competitors.
Prime Minister John Key said he intended to take up the issue with other leaders at the Apec summit in Peru at the weekend.
"It's a wonderful opportunity (to meet international leaders) but to also put New Zealand's case forward which is about free trade and ensuring at a time where the domestic economies of various countries are really starting to pull back and experience concern that we can be in a position where we ensure there's still access for our goods and our markets and that people don't retreat too much."
