Indonesia relaxes NZ fruit import rules

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Wednesday 11th July 2001

Fruit exporters will benefit from a decision by Indonesia to lift restrictions on imports of New Zealand kiwifruit and other fresh fruit.

Trade Negotiations Minister, Jim Sutton, says the Indonesian Government no longer requires New Zealand kiwifruit and other fresh fruit to undergo "cold storage treatment" in order to enter Indonesia.

"This will reduce costs for New Zealand fruit exporters and brings Indonesia in line with New Zealand's other trading partners."

Mr Sutton says he is pleased the longstanding problem, which he had discussed with the Indonesian Minister of Agriculture in Christchurch last month, has finally been resolved.

"The New Zealand Government has been working for some years, bilaterally and through the WTO, to encourage Indonesia to lift these restrictions.

"Indonesia's positive response will help New Zealand producers of kiwifruit and other fresh fruit to develop more fully Indonesia's great potential as an export market."

Indonesia and some other countries imposed the cold storage treatment requirement over five years ago in response to the detection of two Mediterranean fruitfly in Auckland in May 1996.

New Zealand kiwifruit exports to Indonesia totalled $400,000 in the year to the end of March. Indonesia is the country's 13th largest export market worth some $438 million annually.

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