Anderton congratulates food and beverage industry for value added success

The food and beverage industry is making excellent progress in adding value to primary produce and increasing the export value of their products through innovation, according to research released today by Massey University.

"I congratulate the food and beverage industry for increasing the amount of food and beverage products which are value added, to over 50 per cent of our exports in this industry. This increases the sustainability of the industry and helps it to survive commodity price fluctuations.

Over the 2003 year the value of overall food exports dropped by $1.8 billion (on the previous year) to $14.2 billion - but this is fully attributable to a fall in the price of commodity products. Value added products increased their export value by $200 million, to a total of $7.6 billion.

"If all of our primary produce based industries continue to increase the amount of products which undergo innovative processing and manufacturing, New Zealand will be able to maximise growth in an area where we have a natural competitive advantage.

"The food and beverage sector makes up 50 per cent of total exports over all industries, and has huge potential for innovative development to lift value. This is why I have ensured that it is one of our key sectors for the sector development programme.

The research carried out by Massey University was done on contract to New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.

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