The announcement that the UK and New Zealand had agreed in principle, an FTA – Free Trade Agreement – had a mixed reception in Britain. Brexit supporters – and the government – hailed it as a great success, while critics pointed to UK official estimates that the impact of the deal on UK GDP “would be negligeable: in the long run”: between positive growth of 0.01% and negative growth of -0.01%.
However, there was no argument that New Zealand wine producers and UK consumers of their wine would be among the main beneficiaries. The UK is the southern hemisphere Sauvignon Blanc champion’s second biggest market, with sales worth NZ$400m ($290m) in 2019. The removal of tariffs could lead to a fall in the UK retail price of New Zealand wine of around £0.20 ($0.28) – or a saving of around three percent on an average £7.42 ($10.25) bottle. So much more significant than the effect of the deal on the UK economy.
A similar FTA was also announced with Australia in June 2021, but it has yet to be officially ratified.
