NZ butter spreads back to Europe

9 November 1999



NZ butter spreads back to Europe

THE New Zealand Dairy Board has welcomed the resumption of spreadable butter exports to Europe under the countrys quota allocation.

New Zealand pioneered the technology for producing spreadable butter by filtering out hard fats and won a healthy market for its product as a result.

But quota was withdrawn by UK Customs & Excise in 1996.

The subsequent political and legal battle forced it to make the product in continental Europe, rather than export it directly.

The World Trade Organisation has reached a still-unpublished interim finding apparently favouring New Zealands position.

• EU drops tariff on Kiwi butter, FWi, 11 June, 1999
• Kiwi Dairy Board gets aggressive, FWi, 25 February, 1999
  
• Financial Times 09/11/99 page 42