India An agreement was reached today on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and New Zealand. Both the countries on Monday announced the completion of negotiations on FTA and said that the agreement will be signed within 3 months. India has taken special care of the interests of farmers and MSMEs in this FTA with New Zealand. New Zealand will not be given any duty concessions on many important items like dairy, animal products, vegetables, sugar, copper and aluminium. This agreement is expected to come into force next year. Under the agreement, the products that have been excluded from the ‘Duty Concession List’ include dairy products (milk, cream, curd, cheese), animal products (except sheep meat), vegetable products (onion, gram, peas, maize), sugar, artificial honey and animal, vegetable or microorganism based fats and oils.
New Zealand will not get any concession on these things also
Apart from these, India will also not give duty concession to New Zealand on arms and ammunition, gems and jewellery, copper and its products and aluminum and other related items. However, India has limited market access in some agricultural products, but this is linked to ‘tariff rate quotas’ (TRQs) and minimum import prices (MIPs). These include manuka honey, apple, kiwi fruit and albumin used in medicines. Currently, New Zealand’s special product Manuka honey attracts 66 percent duty. Under the agreement, India will give concession on import of this honey up to 200 tonnes annually, in which the MIP has been fixed at US $ 20 per kg. The fee on this will be reduced by 75 percent in 5 years.
MIP will be applicable if imports exceed quota
MIP on imports in excess of quota will be $30 per kg. In case of apple, the current duty is 50 percent. 25 percent duty and MIP of $1.25 per kg will be applicable on apple imports up to 32,500 tonnes in the first year and 45,000 tonnes by the sixth year. However, imports in excess of this quota will attract 50 percent duty. Similarly, MIP on kiwi fruit has been fixed at $1.80 per kg with zero duty for 6250 tonnes in the first year and 15,000 tonnes till the sixth year. For albumin also, normal fee will be applicable after limited quota.
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