Growing Exports

Growing Exports -

The New Zealand Centre for SME Research has released a report “Understanding Internationalisation Behaviour”, which shows the importance of networks and returns to exporters, say the New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association (NZMEA).

NZMEA Chief Executive John Walley says, “The report shows just how much the exchange rate can influence export success once a business has found a way to sell in export markets. Of the top four (See page 9) reasons driving disengagement from export markets, two mention exchange rate explicitly while the other two depend directly on the exchange rate.”

“The issues effecting exporters are well recognised. What we now need is much more bold policy action, to tackle the barriers to exporting. These will be needed to achieve the target of growing exports to 40% of GDP up from around 30% that has been the case for the last decade or so.”

“The suggestion to focus on the service sector only for the second stage misses the point. Services represent a quarter of our exports and there is a major co-dependency between the service sector and the tradable goods sector; growth might best follow a broad based approach.”

“The analysis of the success of Free Trade Agreements (FTA) does miss one important point; technical barriers can be an important issue, particularly for elaborate manufacturers trying to take advantage of FTAs. This is an area our Government and officials have struggled with for some time, specifically with the China FTA.”

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