By PHILIPPA STEVENSON
New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra is well positioned to benefit from a bi-lateral US-Australia trade agreement.
But chief executive Craig Norgate would prefer to see New Zealand brought into the fold.
Fonterra's subsidiary, Australasian Food Holdings, is one of Australia's biggest dairy food companies.
Also, the company's joint venture
with Dairy Farmers of America has allowed Fonterra to make some progress from within the US market, but across-border trading would bring more benefits, Norgate said.
New Zealand's nuclear-free policy - reputedly a major reason for the country to be shut out of a trade deal - was mentioned in negotiations by Americans "almost by habit".
But it was hard to assess whether the policy really mattered "when the rubber hits the road".
A US-Australian deal could influence investment intentions to the advantage of the Australian dairy industry. But there was limited scope for New Zealand's access to be compromised by any deal because it was bound by WTO rules, Norgate said.
* Fonterra has played a key role in launching a new alliance of non-subsidised dairy producers aimed at achieving trade liberalisation in the dairy industry.
The Global Dairy Alliance, announced in Buenos Aires on Friday, brings together farming and industry representatives from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay as well as New Zealand. It aims to reinforce the efforts of Governments in the Cairns Group to break down protectionism and trade-distorting subsidies.
