Tuesday, 10 March 2020 10:42

Can we open up India?

Written by  Peter Burke
Tim Ritchie. Tim Ritchie.

The Meat Industry Association (MIA) says the recent business delegation visit to India was very timely.

MIA chief executive Tim Ritchie was part of a 16-person delegation led by the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for Trade. The delegation included representatives from the dairy, meat and horticulture sector, including Zespri and Apples and Pears NZ – as well as the aviation and engineering sectors.

Ritchie says since he was in India about eight years ago, the country has made tremendous strides in terms of embracing technology. This includes what is described as creating ‘a public highway for data’. 

Ritchie says with a population of 1.5 billion, India offers huge potential for NZ. 

“India is like Europe in the sense that it’s a series of states within one country. There are 26 states, 22 major languages and sheepmeat is a natural part of their diet – so it’s seen as a land of enormous opportunity,” he told Rural News

“I have heard it described as an ‘Aladdin’s Cave’. By 2025 it will have the largest population in the world and exceed China and the average of the population is 29. Someone said the 21st century belongs to India.” 

Ritchie says the fact both that USA and Australia have been courting India is a sign that these two large nations see this part of the sub-continent as important in the future. He says India is described as a relationship, rather than a transactional economy – meaning that potential exporters there need to build close relationships in order to make trading gains.

“This is very important because underneath it all they are still very protectionist in their thinking making it difficult for exporters,” he explains. “But we must remember that 50% of the population are employed in the agricultural economy and therefore the politics of not competing with these people is pretty important.” 

In the light of this, Ritchie believes NZ must work hard to secure a free trade agreement (FTA) with India – regardless of the challenges. The NZ meat industry currently faces a tariff of 30% when exporting to India.

Bowling them over

Sporting ties with India are largely related to cricket and it’s this connection that has helped open up the market for some high-end meat exports to that country. 

A company called QualityNZ, which has a number of NZ cricketers as its shareholders and ambassadors – Sir Richard Hadlee, Stephen Fleming, Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCallum – has made significant inroads into the Indian market selling lamb and other products. 

The company’s chief executive is also a former NZ international cricketer, Geoff Allott, and the company has offices in India.

Ritchie says QualityNZ has been operating in India for several years and has made really good gains in selling product to about 300 of the top hotels and restaurants in that country – where quality rather than price matters. 

“These people spoke very positively about NZ product – both its provenance and also the quality and that it forms a place in their menus,” he told Rural News

“So that’s where the success with sheepmeat has been in recent years and this is all part of that building our reputation there.

The market is still very small but it is important in the long terms because it will help us get away from being too dependent on a big market.” 

Ritchie says even through it is early days, it’s a question of getting the relationships right and from that the business should flow – especially if they can see we are complementing not competing with their industry. 

More like this

Red meat's China push

The red meat sector is launching a new campaign to lure Chinese consumers to New Zealand grass-fed beef and lamb.

Primary sector chuffed

Meat Industry Association chair Nathan Guy says his organisation welcomes the new trade deal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), noting the UAE is the second largest market for the red meat sector in the Gulf Cooperation Council after Saudi Arabia.

Featured

Better animal genetic gain system

A governance group has been formed, following extensive sector consultation, to implement the recommendations from the Industry Working Group's (IWG) final report and is said to be forming a 'road map' for improving New Zealand's animal genetic gain system.

SIDE 2025's new schedule, venue

Annual farmer gathering, the South Island Dairy Event (SIDE), is set to make history as it heads to Timaru for the first time.

Taranaki piggery goes solar

Installing 400 solar panels at their Taranaki piggery and cropping operation will have significant environmental, financial and animal welfare benefits for the Stanley family.

National

The show is on!

It was bringing in a new Canterbury A&P Association (CAPA) show board, more in tune with the CAPA general committee,…

Food charity to hold online auction

Meat the Need, New Zealand’s dedicated charity delivering locally sourced protein meals to food-insecure communities, is launching an online National…

Machinery & Products

An ideal solution for larger farms

Designed specifically for large farms that want to drill with maximum flexibility, efficiency and power, the new Lemken Solitair ST…

Landpower increases its offering

Landpower and the Claas Harvest Centre network will launch the Claas Scorpion and Torion material handling solutions to the market…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Leaky waka

OPINION: Was the ASB Economic Weekly throwing shade on Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr when reporting on his speech in…

Know-it-alls

OPINION: A reader recently had a shot at the various armchair critics that she judged to be more than a…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter