{"id":2222,"date":"2023-01-13T14:41:37","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T01:41:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=2222"},"modified":"2023-01-13T14:41:37","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T01:41:37","slug":"co2-shortages-a-consequence-of-government-inaction-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=2222","title":{"rendered":"CO2 shortages a consequence of government inaction – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

The National Party says the\u00a0closure of the Marsden Point refinery<\/a>\u00a0has put New Zealand in a vulnerable position.<\/p>\n

The K\u0101puni liquid carbon dioxide plant in Taranaki has been New Zealand’s only domestic producer of food-grade CO2 since the Marsden Point refinery was decommissioned last year.<\/p>\n

Just before Christmas it temporarily shut down over safety concerns and has no reopening date at this stage.<\/p>\n

National Party energy and resources spokesperson Stuart Smith told\u00a0Morning Report<\/i>\u00a0government inaction has been a major cause of the problem.<\/p>\n

“[Finance Minister] Grant Robertson was warned that if ACC was forced to sell their 10 percent shareholding in the refinery it would likely close and he just virtually laughed it off.”<\/p>\n

CO2 shortages were a consequence of this, Smith said.<\/p>\n

“We have always suffered from the tyranny of distance and we’re also quite a small market so when there’s global shortages of things such as CO2, as there is at the moment, we have an issue with a plant not being able to produce it now.”<\/p>\n

The supply chains have been made much more vulnerable than they need to be, he said.<\/p>\n

CO2 is used for diary product cultures and high value exports like meat which is airfreighted out of the country, he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s really the high end stuff that creates a lot of value for New Zealand as well as everyday products that people just don’t realise and actually it’s used in medical uses as well.”<\/p>\n

The K\u0101puni closure will have a significant impact on prices, he said.<\/p>\n

“One business told me they were paying $5 a kilogram for dry ice and they’re now paying $18.<\/p>\n

“It’s a significant issue that’s only going to get worse as time goes on and stocks run down for those that already have some supplies.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The National Party says the\u00a0closure of the Marsden Point refinery\u00a0has put New Zealand in a vulnerable position. The K\u0101puni liquid carbon dioxide plant in Taranaki has been New Zealand’s only domestic producer of food-grade CO2 since the Marsden Point refinery was decommissioned last year. Just before Christmas it temporarily shut down over safety concerns and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[174],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nz-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2222"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2224,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2222\/revisions\/2224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}