Tuesday, 20 January 2026 10:52

FTA woes

Written by Milking It

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OPINION: Another example of the dairy sector getting shortchanged in free trade deals?

At Open Country Dairy's new butter plant opening last month, company chair Laurie Margrain had a swipe at the Government.

He told suppliers and industry leaders at the plant opening that the EU free trade deal has a bucket quota.

"And our $50 million investment has been locked out of that for the next few years because the quota's been based upon what we sold to Europe in the previous three years. So, we didn't have a butter plant.

"Now we've got a butter plant, a $50 million butter plant, and we can't sell to Europe."

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