Korea-New Zealand concluded FTA negotiations with positive outcomes in the forestry sector.

Korea-New Zealand FTA has been brought to a successful conclusion on 15th, Nov. after a lengthy negotiation process. New Zealand can be characterized as one of the biggest logs exporting countries.  Korea Forest Service expressed its welcome as the logs supply can be more secure as a result of this FTA.

When it comes to the tariff, while the current applied tariff rate for the logs is 0 % already, the tariff barriers for some forest products will be remaining. In fact, 21 key items, such as walnut, chestnut, mushroom together with particle board and plywood were excluded from the concession lists, and the tariff for 29 other items will be eliminated after 10~20 years . Therefore, It is expected that such tariff structure will enable us to protect our forest farms and wood processors. Also, non-tarriff barriers negotiation made some meaningful achievements, such as the restriction on the log export duty and embargo etc.

The Korea Forest Service Minister Dr. SHIN Won Sop commented that Korea-New Zealand FTA would become the major cornerstone to enhance the stable trading partnership between two countries as well as to increase domestic production of wood and forest products.