Resumption of fresh pork imports into New Zealand from the European Union poses risks to not only the country's pork industry but the wider primary sector, NZPork chairman Ian Carter says.
An updated agreement between New Zealand and the EU has been touted as offering new opportunities for New Zealand meat sector businesses.
A statement, sent on behalf of the Union and Producers of Meat Industry (UPEMI), a trade organisation operating in Poland that also promotes the European meat sector, said amendments to the 20-year-old agreement offered new prospects for New Zealand importers after a ban lasting 11 years on imports of fresh European pork.
Mr Carter, a North Otago farmer, said the industry body was not opposed to the importation of meat, but its frustration was with the risks it posed to the country around biosecurity.
While the agreement had been cited as a benefit to the New Zealand primary industries, opening up trade, it posed a bigger risk to the country's ability to trade, he said.
New Zealand First's primary industries spokesman Richard Prosser has also criticised the agreement, saying it made no economic sense for New Zealand's pig farmers or the economy.
It increased the risk of pig-specific diseases and increased the risk of foot and mouth destroying the country's entire primary sector, Mr Prosser said.
UPEMI said the EU had ‘‘stringent standards and control mechanisms'' through the entire meat production chain.
Europe was ranked second in the world in the global rankings of pork exporters and the EU currently exported almost three million tonnes of pork each year.
In 2013, New Zealand bought 87,000 tonnes of allowable meat products from the EU, nearly twice as much as was imported in 2012.
With fresh EU pork again allowed to be imported, its expected those figures might increase significantly in 2016.
From a pork industry viewpoint, Mr Carter said the EU did not have to meet New Zealand's animal welfare standards and the products were coming in on a ‘‘different playing field'', so it was not a fair trade deal.
There was a lack of understanding and transparency to New Zealand consumers around how it was being produced.
It was also not mandatory to have country of origin labelling, which was also frustrating from a consumer perspective, he said.
Mr Carter also raised the topic of "food miles'' and whether it really was "fresh'' product that was coming in.
Mr Carter said he could not stress enough how consumers should be looking for pork products featuring the PigCare label.
Developed by Massey University and independently audited, PigCare provided assurance of the high welfare standards of care for pigs farmed in New Zealand.
It was "hugely powerful'' for the industry to have that information and confidence in its production system.
The year ahead for the pork industry was looking "reasonably good'', although the down side was that production was as low as it had ever been, Mr Carter said.
That followed a sustained period of poor returns and a lack of confidence to have a lot of capital expenditure in a fairly specialist industry "with a lot of unknowns going forward''.
Fifty-seven percent of pork consumption in New Zealand was imported product and that figure was climbing, he said.
While his role as chairman of NZPork could be challenging and frustrating at times, it was great to represent a unified industry and an industry that adapted and met challenges, he said.
