15 December 2004

New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) has strengthened its commitment to New Zealand’s food and beverage industry with the appointment of its Chief Executive to the new Food and Beverage Taskforce.

NZTE’s Chief Executive Tim Gibson has been confirmed along with Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s Director General Murray Sherwin as members of the taskforce, alongside a group of highly regarded chief executives and food industry leaders.

Mr Gibson, who has extensive experience in the food industry in New Zealand, said he is looking forward to playing an important role helping the country’s largest export sector capture the most of emerging global opportunities.

“NZTE is committed to working collaboratively at the highest levels with Government, industry, science and education partners to grow this flagship industry to its greatest potential,” Mr Gibson says.

“Food and beverage accounts for nearly 50% of New Zealand’s exports and 5% of GDP – and nearly 10% of GDP when the strengths of our agriculture and food service industries are combined with this. Harnessing the future potential of these sectors is central to New Zealand’s future.

“The industry is already hugely successful, showcasing its competitive excellence in many parts of the globe by overcoming quota restrictions and becoming world leaders. The sector also has increasing levels of sophistication to the extent that more than 50% of food and beverage exports are considered ‘value-added’.

“The challenge now is to take our success and keep growing it – by addressing the demands of the global consumer for more sophisticated value-added product, convenience foods, safety assurances, and foods that assist health and wellbeing; and by forming relationships with influential food industry partners.

“NZTE is keen to work with other members of the taskforce to take advantage of these international trends, through our global network of staff located in the market, and to address issues facing the sector. The taskforce’s work will in turn help shape our own food and beverage programmes and projects in the future.”

NZTE will undertake project management duties for the taskforce. It will also look to integrate the Food and Beverage Taskforce’s work with the GIF taskforces already underway, and its other sector work.

NZTE’s global network of staff and onshore food and beverage team work with food and beverage exporters through a variety of programmes, including export promotion activities; international partner identification; market intelligence and export consultancy services; and sector research. In addition NZTE runs a significant strategic HRI (hotel, restaurant and institution) and consumer marketing programme in North America that draws on high profile chefs and sommeliers as NZ Food Ambassadors, and is developing a series of initiatives in North Asia.

NZTE Food and Beverage work internationally recognised

This week NZTE’s work in the food sector was awarded an industry accolade by international trade magazine Global Food and Wine (formerly Global Supermarket), which is published in Australia and distributed throughout 37 countries to top chief executives and supermarket buyers.

Global Food and Wine announced its inaugural awards’ “Export Facilitator of the Year” title was being awarded to NZTE, after researching and comparing several other countries’ agencies work. Judges said NZTE was a world leader, and commented that the award was for “a consistent, co-ordinated and highly professional approach to marketing and promoting its country’s food and beverage products to the world”.

The Food and Beverage Taskforce was announced at 1PM Wednesday December 15th by Economic Development Minister Jim Anderton and Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton in Wellington. To view the official press release, details of the taskforce’s terms of reference and the names of the members of the taskforce, visit www.beehive.govt.nz

For more information on NZTE’s services to the food and beverage industry visit www.nzte.govt.nz/foodandbeverage

For more information please contact:

Peter Bull, Sector Director, NZTE, ph 04 910 4669, email peter.bull@nzte.govt.nz

Aimee Brock, Communications Advisor – Food and Beverage, NZTE, ph 09 915 5628, email aimee.brock@nzte.govt.nz
 

Editor’s notes :

1. This is the first time NZTE’s Chief Executive has been appointed to an industry taskforce. NZTE has played a central role in the implementation or project management duties of all previous industry taskforces.
2. The Food and Beverage Taskforce is the first taskforce announced under Cabinet’s new Sector Engagement Framework. Details are available at www.gif.med.govt.nz
3. Global Food and Wine Magazine (readership 115,000) ’s website is: www.globalfoodandwine.com. New Zealand company 42 Below and the NZ wine industry were also named among the 22 winners. A New Zealand story is here: http://www.nzte.govt.nz