Bilateral trade between New Zealand and India is set to double over the next decade, according to Jan Henderson, New Zealand’s high commissioner to India.
Speaking at the second India-New Zealand Business Forum, Henderson said the value of trade between the two country’s had risen from NZ$620m in 2007 to NZ$1.1bn in 2012, with a similar growth rate projected over the next six years.
“In 2013, the trade is expected to be NZ $1.2 billion, a slight increase due to economic slowdown in the market,” Henderson said. “We expect the trade to double by 2020.”
Henderson said negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two nations were progressing well.
An FTA would assist New Zealand kiwifruit growers in capitalising on growing demand for their fruit in India, which has seen global import volumes of kiwifruit increase 34 per cent to 5,460 tonnes over the last five years.
New Zealand holds a 23 per cent market share of India’s imported kiwifruit market, second only to Northern Hemisphere supplier Italy (54 per cent).
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