Latest Posts in October 2009

As Fonterra extricates its Chinese business from the wreckage of the tainted milk powder scandal, the dairy giant is celebrating a milestone at its local farm – and deciding whether to expand.
WHEN calf number 1249 – the product of New Zealand Friesian stock and American sex-sorted bull semen – was born on a Chinese farm [...]

CER Group Ltd is negotiating to sell its New Zealand Nature Company Ltd business, shareholders were told at the annual meeting.
CER acquired New Zealand Nature, an e-commerce retailer and direct marketer in 2005.
Shareholders were told that when the terms of a sale were finalised they would be announced to the market and presented the shareholders [...]

Mike Smith, chief executive of ANZ, on Thursday said that the Australian bank hoped to complete further opportunistic acquisitions next year as struggling European and US financial services groups are forced to divest assets in Asia.
ANZ has agreed two deals recently. Last month it paid A$1.76bn (US$1.6bn) to buy ING’s 51 per cent stake in [...]

A country whose national symbol is the flightless Kiwi bird, New Zealand is a high flyer in international aviation and is playing a major part in the development of the sector in India. Kiwi businesses are now training pilots on behalf of Indian airlines; maintaining the safety of Indian aircraft; and providing technologies that will [...]

New Zealand business confidence held near a decade high in October, adding to signs the economy is recovering from a recession.
A net 30.5 percent of companies surveyed this month expect sales and profits will increase over the next 12 months compared with 32.2 percent in the September survey, according to a report released by ANZ [...]

Throughout 2009 I seem to have seen a lot of New Zealand winery faces in Singapore.  I suspect this is partially due to the necessary layover for antipodeans en-route to Europe or the Middle East.  But apart from opportunistic re-fueling stopovers, the Kiwis are also getting switched on to the potential for growing market share [...]

Malaysia and New Zealand are working to determine the earliest possible date to implement their free trade agreement (FTA), preferably by next year.
Malaysia is hopeful that implementation of the FTA will provide much needed impetus for engagement of the private sectors of both countries, said the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI).
It said in [...]

The free trade deal with Malaysia is being seen as very positive, especially for Fonterra.
New Zealand exports roughly a billion dollars worth of goods to Malaysia each year. The Asian country is New Zealand’s eighth largest market.
Business correspondent Roger Kerr says Fonterra’s sales to South East Asia and the Middle East are expected to rise [...]

Federated Farmers is welcoming the Government’s signing of a free trade agreement (FTA with Malaysia, although the runaway New Zealand dollar is removing some of the gloss.
“Malaysia is our eighth largest trading partner and represents an incredibly sophisticated consumer market of more than 25 million people. Best of all they know New Zealand and hold [...]

Otago Chamber of Commerce CEO John Christie, who’s travelling with Prime Minister John Key, says the Free Trade Agreement signed with Malaysia last night bodes well for Otago businesses.
Christie says international trade has been volatile, and growth within Asia holds the best prospects for New Zealand exporters.
He says Malaysia is one of four ASEAN partners [...]