Before you plan to import to New Zealand, many Government departments are concerned with imports arriving in New Zealand. The main Government departments are the New Zealand Customs Service [NZCS] and the Ministry for Primary Industries [MPI]. One other Government department that should always be at importers forefront of mind is the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment [MBIE].

Whenever goods are imported to New Zealand, they will be assessed for import duty and import GST. If importers import goods from countries that New Zealand has a Free Trade Agreement [FTA] with; in more cases than not, the import duty will be reduced to zero and the GST will be 15%. 

Import duty is very different from Anti-Dumping Duty [ADD]; ADD is a very high tax that applies only to select commodities designed to protect New Zealand industries from having imports ‘dumped’ into the New Zealand marketplace. 

At the moment, there is a very short list of items that are subject to ADD, which are listed on the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment [MBIE] website:

  1. Preserved peaches from Spain
  2. Aluminium-zinc coasted steel from Korea
  3. Canned peaches from Greece
  4. Galvanised wire from China
  5. Galvanised wire from Malaysia
  6. Canned peaches from South Africa

The Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment [MBIE] list of goods subject to Dumping Duties is current as at October 2023. The Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment [MBIE] can add commodities that may or will cause material injury to New Zealand manufacturers.

Platinum® is well versed in Anti-Dumping Duties [ADD] and recommends that importers reach out to Platinum® before they purchase goods from overseas so that an ADD assessment can be undertaken.