Latest / Best of Business / Jamie Mackay: The Country host on Beef + Lamb NZ putting case forward at US International Trade Commission

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Jamie Mackay: The Country host on Beef + Lamb NZ putting case forward at US International Trade Commission · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from Newstalk ZB. Follow this
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio. The
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Rural Report on Heather Duplessy-Allen Drive. Jamie Mackay, host of
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  Speaker 1: The Country's With Us.
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  Speaker 2: Hello, Jamie. Evening, Heather. So are we sending Kate to
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  Speaker 2: the USA? Well, she's on her way there. In fact,
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  Speaker 2: I suspect she might have landed because I'm chatting to
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  Speaker 2: her at 9.30 in the morning, which will be what, afternoon,
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  Speaker 2: late afternoon, Washington time. So, yep, she's over there to
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  Speaker 2: plead our case at a hearing of the U.S. International
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  Speaker 2: Trade Commission in Washington. The meeting is or the hearing
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  Speaker 2: is Saturday morning, our time, and it's all about whether
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  Speaker 2: lamb imports, almost all of which come from Australia and
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  Speaker 2: New Zealand, are causing or threatening to cause serious injury
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  Speaker 2: to U.S. lamb producers. Now, Beef and Lamb New Zealand,
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  Speaker 2: Kate leading the charge, will present evidence that imports 99%
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  Speaker 2: of them, as I said, come from New Zealand and Australia,
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  Speaker 2: will complement or do complement the US sheep industry and
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  Speaker 2: are helping meet demand from US consumers that its producers
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  Speaker 2: cannot fill. Remember, the total sheep flock in the USA
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  Speaker 2: is 5 million, lamb population just 3 million. It's 1%
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  Speaker 2: of their total livestock income. They are a cattle country.
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  Speaker 2: So what happens is the International Trade Commission has until
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  Speaker 2: November the 13th to determine whether injury is taking place.
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  Speaker 2: If an injury is proven, the Commission must hold a
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  Speaker 2: further hearing on possible remedies by December the 1st. And
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  Speaker 2: here's where the trouble begins for us, Heather. If that
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  Speaker 2: makes formal recommendations, or it then makes formal recommendations to
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  Speaker 2: the US President, who has 60 days to decide whether
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  Speaker 2: to implement this, these tariffs or not and we all
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  Speaker 2: know what he loves about tariffs he loves implementing them
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  Speaker 2: currently we're paying 13.2 percent uh the the uh american
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  Speaker 2: sheep industry association wants that tariff rate lifted to 21
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  Speaker 2: so there is there is mind you a very uh
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  Speaker 2: short-term uh lining for every cloud, silver lining for this cloud.
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  Speaker 2: Exporters over there or importers, American importers are getting pretty
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  Speaker 2: nervous and we're getting an increased interest from our United
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  Speaker 2: States customers ahead of or in anticipation of possible import
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  Speaker 2: restrictions coming off early or coming on early next year.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, so the aquaculture guys, are they going to start
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  Speaker 1: targeting India, are they?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, why not? It's the world's, well, it's one
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  Speaker 2: of the world's largest and fastest growing seafood markets. The
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  Speaker 2: government wants to quadruple the value of the country's farmed seafood.
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  Speaker 2: At the moment we're only farming about 750 million of that.
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  Speaker 2: They want to increase that to 3 billion by 2035.
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  Speaker 2: Now here's an interesting stat for you. Aquaculture New Zealand's
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  Speaker 2: annual conference in Nelson on Wednesday was told that Australian
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  Speaker 2: seafood exports to India had increased almost 300 percent since
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  Speaker 2: a partial free trade agreement was signed in 2022. At
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  Speaker 2: the same time, our trade to India fell by 67%.
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  Speaker 2: If or when this Indian free trade comes into effect
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  Speaker 2: next week, where our current 33% tariff on key fish
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  Speaker 2: and seafood exports will be phased out over seven years.
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  Speaker 2: So it won't be an overnight cure, but it will help. Interestingly,
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  Speaker 2: I'm probably out of time here. I was just going
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  Speaker 2: to tell you about the big salmon farm at Stewart Island,
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  Speaker 2: but I get the feeling you're out of time. You
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  Speaker 2: can go if you want to.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, don't take forever, obviously.
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  Speaker 2: No, I won't. Well, this is the first one that
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  Speaker 2: Shane has fast-tracked or has got fast-track approval. You imagine this,
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  Speaker 2: 1,285 hectares. I'm trying to describe that in terms of
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  Speaker 2: football fields. It's a hell of a lot of them.
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  Speaker 2: So this is an open ocean salmon farm off the
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  Speaker 2: northern coast of Stewart Island, run by or led by
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  Speaker 2: Ngātahu Seafood. It's expected to produce 14,000 tonnes of salmon
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  Speaker 2: per year, create 450 jobs and generate more than $ 310
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  Speaker 2: million in annual sales. I just hope, Heather, it makes
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  Speaker 2: salmon a bit cheaper. This is a bit pricey, eh?
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  Speaker 1: Jamie, thanks so much, mate. Look forward to talking to
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  Speaker 1: you again next week. Jamie Mackay, host of The Country.
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  Speaker 1: For more from Newstalk ZB, listen live on air or
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