The Business Roundtable sees the Government's position on kiwifruit industry deregulation as a test of its reform credentials.Turners and Growers has been making a case to the Government for kiwifruit industry deregulation and the Business Roundtable said
The Business Roundtable sees the Government's position on kiwifruit industry deregulation as a test of its reform credentials.
Turners and Growers has been making a case to the Government for kiwifruit industry deregulation and the Business Roundtable said it had been arguing for deregulation of the industry since 1992.
The 2025 Taskforce last year said that the monopoly of the kiwifruit exporter Zespri on exports to markets other than Australia should be removed.
"This should be one of the easier taskforce recommendations for the Government to accept," Business Roundtable executive director Roger Kerr said.
The export monopoly was a relic of old New Zealand.
The days were long since gone when New Zealand dominated world markets for kiwifruit. New Zealand's share of world kiwifruit exports by volume has fallen from 54 percent in 1990 to 29 percent in 2006.
The only market power that Zespri could exercise was over its own growers.
It was not valid to argue that the monopoly should be removed only if a majority of growers supported such a step.
The Zespri monopoly should be reviewed this year against the government statement on regulation issued last year.
It was unlikely that the Government's official advisers would find a case for retaining the monopoly.
"Its reaction will be a test of its reform credentials."
