Responding to a request by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, a new export certificate has been developed which validates the quality of dairy stock being exported to China.
The Dairy Cattle Export Certificate has been developed by New Zealand farmer co-operative Livestock Improvement.
Effective 1 November 2004 the new certificate is required if exporters and/or farmers want their stock to qualify as quality breeding stock, and thus be exempt from the duty and GST payments normally due for importing dairy cattle into China. .
Livestock Improvement’s General Manager Innovation. Dieter Adam, said "exporters are able to qualify for exemption from a tariff of around 25% of the value of each animal, on proof of ancestry.
"The Livestock Improvement Database is able to provide that information via a bar-coded, three generation pedigree which relates uniquely to each animal being exported.
"The Dairy Cattle Export Certificate contains parentage details going back three generations, the animal’s production in litres over a 305 day period and a percentile which indicates its genetic merit in the national herd.
Dieter Adam said, from today, only animals accompanied by a Dairy Cattle Export Certificate will qualify as breeding stock – although some allowance (to 13 January 2005) has been made for animals which are being processed under the current system.
"Animals that don’t have a certificate can still be exported but will incur the tariff.
"Stock agents will be supplied with a Stock Agent Code and a website login where they can search and, with the prior permission of the herd owner, search and order herd reports," he said.
