A report commissioned by the Horticultural Export Authority and Horticulture New Zealand has found tariffs imposed on imports are costing growers in the country NZ$34,000 a year, an increase of NZ$6,000 on figures from 2008.
The study shows horticultural product exports incurred NZ$235m in tariffs, an increase of 19 per cent on the 2008 figure of NZ$197m.
About 60 per cent of New Zealand’s total production of fruit and vegetables is exported, at a value of around NZ$2.2bn to the country.
The report, which was released on Thursday, is used by both industry and government agencies to monitor and negotiate international trade access and to help exporters develop new markets.
Export Authority chief executive Simon Hegarty said New Zealand export earnings were being further hampered by the increasing use by other countries of sanitary and phytosanitary barriers, known as SPS.
"These are the types of barriers that have kept our products out of other countries in the past because they are based on supposedly scientific product health concerns," he said.
"The SPS compliance costs are not calculated in this study. But we know the industry is paying more to conform to export certification regimes, put in place by importing countries, as protection for their own growing environments."
Other costs faced by exporters included compliance with non-SPS technical barriers, such as quotas, grade standards and labelling rules, often driven by politics at the expense of sound science, he said.
The report also revealed New Zealand’s top five markets are worth NZ$1.6b, and account for more than 75 per cent of horticulture exports.
The value of horticultural exports to China has more than tripled in the past two years since the signing of the free trade agreement, mainly through kiwifruit.
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