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Import duty hike on apples upsets NZ

Our Bureau

CHENNAI, Nov. 15

NEW Zealand was ``shocked and disappointed'' with the Government's decision to raise the import duty on apples from 40 per cent to 52 per cent, New Zealand's Minister for Trade Negotiations, Mr Jim Sutton, said here on Wednesday.

Answering questions at a luncheon meeting organised here by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)'s Southern Region, Mr Sutton said that New Zealand was particularly disappointed because the country had provided considerable expertise to Indian appl e growers.

Later, speaking to Business Line, Mr Sutton and Mr Adrian Simcock, New Zealand's Trade Commissioner in India, said that New Zealand's exports of apples to India was an ``infinitesimal'' compared to India's own production of apples. ``We could not underst and why (the higher import duty),'' Mr Simcock said.

Mr Sutton said New Zealand was interested in providing technology for Indian companies in the field of food processing. A background paper of the CII on Indo-New Zealand relations, says that consumers in New Zealand could now, for the first time, ``exper ience the homely taste of Amul butter''.