Primary Industries Minister, Nathan Guy, and Trade Minister, Tim Groser, issued a joint statement to mark the one-year anniversary of the Economic Cooperation Agreement between New Zealand and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu on Economic Cooperation.

New Zealand's total exports to Taiwan were up by NZD $150 million NZ dollars to NZD $884 million from December 2013 to September this year.

"Over 69 percent of New Zealand's exports to Chinese Taipei are now tariff free, representing savings of around 78.4 million NZ dollars (61.33 million U.S. dollars) to date," Groser said.

The agreement would see complete removal of tariffs on New Zealand's current exports to Taiwan, with 99 percent eliminated in four years.

Guy said, "Tariffs on virtually all dairy products were removed from day one, along with apples, cherries and wine. This has been a boost to all these industries, especially apple exports which have tripled from 13 million to 39 million NZ dollars (10.17 million to 30.5 million U.S. dollars)."

In the year ending September 2014, Chinese Taipei was New Zealand's seventh largest goods export market worth more than NZD $1 billion.

Over the same period, imports from Taiwan were up 12 percent to NZD $661 million.

Source: globalpost.com