Agreement has been reached on new regulations to restore market access for New Zealand’s frozen deer velvet exports to China.
Deer Industry NZ (DINZ) chief executive Rhys Griffiths said the agreement between the respective government agencies on the new formal arrangement’s content proposes “good-faith intention amongst the regulators”.
The Ministry for Primary Industries is drafting separate lists of premises and developing health certificates for frozen and dried velvet for China’s approval and implementation.
Once finalised, the Overseas Market Access Requirements for China will be updated to enable the new certificates to be used, Griffiths said.
Trade in frozen velvet is expected to resume for the 2024-2025 season.
“This progress is a testament to the MPI’s dedication throughout the process, reflecting a shared commitment to maintaining robust safety systems and advancing the economic prosperity of NZ,” Griffiths said.
“We extend our gratitude to MPI officials in Wellington and Beijing for getting us to this point and acknowledge the efforts of all parties involved from both NZ and China.
“This marks good progress towards the long-term sustainability of our trade with China, opening doors to new opportunities for value-added deer velvet products, a wider range of sales channels, and an expanded customer base.”
In October last year China signalled changes to its rules for imported velvet used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), necessitating new market access regulations for exports of NZ velvet.
Since May 1 this year, only dried velvet has been able to be imported as a TCM into China.
The changes apply to velvet imported by China from all countries and are not solely about NZ imports.
Griffiths said DINZ believes the changing rules around velvet exports to China will open opportunity for the NZ velvet industry in the “longer term, providing more secure and transparent access to mainland China for NZ velvet”.
