22 December, 2025

New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority CEO, Simon Hegarty says:

The announcement of a free trade agreement between New Zealand (NZ) and India by Trade Minister Todd McClay is warmly welcomed across the NZ horticulture exporting landscape.

This news provides a welcome positive against the current backdrop of a range of significant challenges in exporting perishable products. The phased reduction or removal of trade distorting tariffs will be good for the NZ horticulture export sectors included in the deal by levelling the pitch with other southern hemisphere supplying countries. Indian consumers will benefit from the agreement enabling greater choice and better security of access for healthy NZ food products.

In 2024 India was New Zealand’s 11th ranked market by value and on a rising trend up from NZ$40m in 2023 to 118 million (Fob) in 2025. The trade was taxed by India via tariffs ranging from 30% to 50% (depending on the item). The phased reduction or removal of tariffs on trade with India under the FTA will provide an estimated benefit of NZ$20m to $30m annually. This equates to the removal of approximately 30% of our entire annual horticulture tariff costs globally.

New Zealand’s horticulture exports to India were dominated by apples (66%) and kiwifruit (30%) in 2025 and with both sectors included in the FTA, along with avocados, cherries, blueberries and persimmons there is scope to grow the horticulture category. However, there will be some product sectors (e.g. onions and other vegetables) disappointed at being excluded from the agreement. For many sectors freight and logistics challenges are significant and will continue to be a constraint on trade.

We extend our sincere appreciation to Minister McClay and the full NZ negotiating team whose combined efforts and strategic leadership resulted in this welcome agreement, from what has been an extremely complex negotiation under testing conditions.

Facts about NZ horticulture exports

• New Zealand exports approximately 60% of its annual horticulture production (excluding wine), to over 120 markets, at a value of NZ$6.6 billion (in 2025).
• Leading markets are; China $1.735 billion, EU $1.151 billion, Japan NZ$757.2 million, Australia $528m, Taiwan $453m, USA $399m, Republic of Korea $294m, Vietnam $198m. These eight markets account for just over 83% of the total export value.
• The New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority (NZHEA) is a statutory authority established under the NZ Horticulture Export Authority Act 1987, charged with “promoting the effective export marketing of NZ horticulture products”. It has additional functions that include liaising with organisations on trade barriers and their removal. For more information go to website www.hea.co.nz

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