The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Association of Greek Dairy Industries (SEVGAP), Christos Apostolopoulos, described the EU-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) for Greek feta as successful and extremely important, speaking to Euractiv Greece after the approval of the agreement by the European Parliament and the Council last month.

At the end of last month, first the European Parliament (November 22) and then the Council of Ministers (November 27) approved the EU’s Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with New Zealand, which protects 163 of the most well-known traditional EU products (geographical indications), among which is feta cheese and Kalamata olives (PDO).

With the approval of both EU institutions, the way has been opened for the Agreement to be implemented as early as next year, if New Zealand also completes the necessary legal procedures.

The Greek feta trade is being strengthened

Since 2002, Greek feta has been officially listed in the list of products with a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) of the EU. this with the EU finally issuing a regulation on its registration in 2002.

Total exports of feta cheese reached 605 million euros in 2022 in value, almost double that of 2019 which was 388 million euros, according to ELSTAT.

Nevertheless, the EU-New Zealand trade agreement is another victory for the Greek trade in dairy products and feta in particular, strengthening the position of the product in international trade.

“It is an agreement rather successful and of course of great importance in contrast to other agreements where Feta did not receive this approval”, the president of the Association of Greek Dairy Industries (SEVGAP), Christos Apostolopoulos, tells Euractiv Greece in his comment on the agreement .

“Its importance does not lie in the volume of our exports to this region, which is not particularly high, but in the fact that our national product was secured [η φέτα] in another country”, he added.

In fact, according to a report by the Sydney Office of Economic and Commercial Affairs, regarding the bilateral trade of total goods and services between Greece and New Zealand, our country “ranked 60th out of 241 for the highest export value, 56th out of 239 for the highest import value’.

According to a SEVE report published in July, 2022, Greece exported food to New Zealand at a rate of 19.3% and a value of 6.2 million euros, constituting the second category of exported products to this country. Accordingly, in 2022 our country imported from New Zealand “food worth 40.2 million euros with a share of 75.6% in the total”.

“These small battles are important to finally win the war”, Mr. Apostolopoulos characteristically noted, speaking of the commercial power that Greek feta gains with the reduction of tariffs in the context of this agreement. “And this is because when they are won, they are of particular importance in the next negotiations of the EU with third countries where the negotiations are more difficult, e.g. Australia, America, etc.”, he added.

The proximity of New Zealand to Australia seems to be an extremely important parameter of this agreement, according to Mr. Apostolopoulos, as Australia, due to the strong presence of the Greek diaspora there, “has a great commercial interest for us”.

“Regardless of whether this region today is commercially limited in exports does not mean that on this occasion there will be no interest in increasing our exports there. On the contrary, we consider this development to be certain”, added Mr. Apostolopoulos, expressing his hope for the increase in the exports of Greek dairy products to this region.

“No immediate results”

As part of the agreement, an adjustment period of nine years is given. Thus, Greek producers who produce white cheeses and call them “Feta” have a period of nine years to adapt.

However, the positive impact of this trade agreement will not be immediately visible due to this long adjustment period.

“We will not see the positive effects of this positive agreement immediately but gradually, mainly after the adjustment period has passed,” said Mr. Apostolopoulos to Euractiv Greece.

Finally, when asked whether and to what extent this agreement will put more pressure on the Thessalian producers of dairy products, especially feta, so that they can cover the gaps after the great disasters of the autumn, Mr. Apostolopoulos assured that no such question arises.

Due to the long period of adaptation of the Greek producers to the standards of the Agreement, “we do not see its direct correlation with the problems of reduction of production brought by the disasters of Thessaly”, Mr. Apostolopoulos concluded.