India seeks New Zealand's help for setting up cold storages

The issue was discussed by Indian officials with their New Zealand counterpart during their meeting in Wellington on 29th, 30th July

India has sought expertise from New Zealand in development of cold storages in the country, where fruits and vegetables worth thousands of crores go waste every year due to inadequate storage infrastructure.

This was one of the important issues discussed by Indian officials with their New Zealand counterpart during their meeting in Wellington on 29th and 30th July.

"India has 37 million tonne opportunity for developing cold storage. We have asked New Zealand's expertise in this matter," a senior official in the commerce ministry said.

The official said since New Zealand is a major producer of fruits and dairy products, it has expertise and modern technology in setting up of cold storages.

Agriculture and Food Processing Industries Minister Sharad Pawar has recently said that the value of annual wastage of fruits and vegetables was estimated at Rs 13,309 crore.

However, if the wastage value of rice, wheat, cereals and others are taken into account, it would go up to Rs 44,000 crore a year.

As per estimates, there is requirement of about 60 million tonnes of cold storage in the country against the present capacity of around 29 million tonnes.

The government also provides financial assistance for construction of cold chain infrastructure.

Further, India has also suggested New Zealand to invest in the dairy sector.

"New Zealand dairy sector can invest in India to produce dairy items that India does not produce," the official added.

Besides, the country has sought greater market access to export items like gems and jewellery, pharmaceutical, engineering goods, leather products and sports goods in order to increase bilateral trade between the countries.

Both the countries are also negotiating a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement since 2010. The broad-based free trade agreement proposes to cover goods, services and investment.

The bilateral trade between the two countries stood at meagre $998.68 million in 2012-13. It was $1.07 billion in the previous fiscal.

The FTA is important for India as it hopes to get more work visas for its professionals especially teachers, healthcare providers, technicians, IT experts, architects and hospitality providers in New Zealand.

New Zealand wants access to Indian markets for its agri products like apple, kiwi, dairy and also wine.