December 2014
www.waterfordpress.co.nz
Winning Style - page 28
Korean trade deal nearly there Hugh de Lacy The long-sought after goal of a free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea, New Zealand’s fifth largest trading partner, is virtually a done deal. However, New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser isn’t prepared to say so just yet. “After walking across broken glass on this negotiation over many years I am now prepared to say in public that I’m very confident we can get this thing together, but we’re not quite there,” Groser said. Groser recently met with his South Korean
counterpart on the fringes of the Asia-Pacific Economic conference in Beijing and again at the East Asia Summit in Myanmar. “All I can say with necessary caution on my part is that nothing’s done till it’s done. “After all I’m one of the millions of New Zealanders who thought when we were leading 8-1 in the America’s Cup with nine sailing days to go that it was pretty well assured – and how wrong that proved,” Groser said. “Apart from the pain it just showed once again in the real world, don’t count your chickens until they hatch. “It’s a simple truth of human behaviour. “So I’m not prepared to say it’s done: we’ve
got one or two final steps, but it’s looking very good.” Negotiations towards an FTA began in 2009 soon after the then South Korean President Lee Myung-bak visited New Zealand. Seven rounds of largely fruitless negotiation followed before current President Park Geun-hye gave new impetus to the talks which resumed in February this year in Wellington. The sticking point has been the impact of New Zealand’s agricultural trade on South Korea’s. Last year trade between the two countries was worth $3.59 billion, slightly favouring South Korea which imported $1.63b worth of products
from New Zealand and exported $1.96b worth to here. New Zealand has the largest expatriate South Korean population in the world, with around 30,000 ethnic Koreans living here. It is also the fourth largest source of foreign students in New Zealand and the seventh-largest source of overseas visitors. An FTA would save New Zealand exporters about $230 million in tariffs, including 89% on butter, 45% on kiwifruit, 40% on beef and 11% on processed wood products. Korean exporters would save only about $5m in tariffs, but their home economy would benefit from a wider range of cheaper goods.
Migration rise a major factor Hugh de Lacy Suggestions the Christchurch post-quake building boom has already peaked, and has only a couple more years to run, have been rubbished by Bank of New Zealand chief economist Tony Alexander. Current record net increases in migration, tipped to reach 50,000 a year by the end of 2014, would ensure an extension of Christchurch building well beyond the actual repair programme, and offer a similar boost to the highly buoyant Auckland market, Alexander told Business North. The Canterbury Development Corporation said recently that economic growth in the region is set to slide over the next two years because post-quake building has already reached its peak. But Alexander said most economists have “been struggling for the past three years to figure out what the profile of the rebuild will be”, and the net migration boom clouds the picture even further. Immigration would have a three-way impact on construction. “Number one, there will be a few extra builders around so I would expect extra houses to be built than would otherwise be the case. “Secondly, I think that the accommodation demand will exceed the speed with which extra supply will come forward, therefore it will tend to place upward pressure on rents and house prices as well,” he said. The third factor arose from the familiarity investors already have with the impact of immigration changes on construction demand, especially in the Auckland market, which “will add even further upward pressure on prices”.
INSIDE
Church plans coming to fruition... More than 170 years after the land was first purchased, and nearly 60 years after the foundation stone was laid, the race is now on to finally complete Auckland’s Holy Trinity Cathedral. Bishop George Selwyn purchased the land In 1842 with the vision to build a cathedral for the Anglican Diocese of Auckland that would become a centre for
Shake up for demolition industry - PAGE 2
Seafood technology a winner - PAGE 3
educational, social, charitable and missionary work in the city. There are currently three projects underway at the cathedral, which will effectively complete it: a new organ for the cathedral, construction of the Bishop Selwyn Chapel and projects at St Mary’s-in-Holy-Trinity church located next door to the cathedral. See story page 9
Holy Trinity plans on track - PAGE 9
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