New Zealand pays almost NZ$200 million (£73m) in export tariffs on produce each year, according to a study released last week.

About 60 per cent of New Zealand’s total horticultural production is exported.

The horticulture industry’s 2008 Trade Barriers Report shows tariffs imposed by other countries on New Zealand’s products cost growers, on average, $28,000 each, which is an increase of $3,000 on the 2006 figures.

This is a 13 per cent increase on the 2006 figure of $175m and that figure was a 12 per cent increase on 2004 ($156m).

Since this report was last updated, New Zealand's horticultural exports have risen 16 per cent to break the $2 billion mark. This is a dramatic increase from the $1.73bn seen in 2006 (which was itself up from $1.67bn in 2004), and represents a promising trend for the future of the industry.

Every two years the New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority and Horticulture New Zealand complete the New Zealand Horticulture - Barriers to Our Export Trade report into the tariffs and other barriers on exports.

Horticulture New Zealand president Andrew Fenton said: “Obviously as we sell more products overseas, we will pay correspondingly more in tariffs. The value of exports went up 16 per cent, meaning we are slightly ahead - by about 3 per cent.

“But it is quite disheartening to see that all the talk of free trade in recent years really has had little effect on what growers actually earn,” he said.

The EU, Japan, Australia, and the US remain New Zealand's top four export markets, although the Republic of Korea has overtaken Taiwan to become its fifth most important market.

The EU alone takes 34 per cent of New Zealand exports by value ($687m) and the value of exports to this market has grown by 13 per cent since 2006.

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