Tag Archives: Drought

Business confidence held at a three-year high in the second quarter as domestic trading activity eased, according to the latest Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion from the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research. A net 31 percent of businesses remained optimistic in June, seasonally adjusted, unchanged from the March quarter, the institute said. Last quarter was the highest since March …

The New Zealand dollar dropped after government figures showed the economy grew at the half the expected pace in the first quarter, as the drought at the start of the year saw farmers cull their herds, sapping milk production. Gross domestic product grew 0.3 percent to $37.1 billion in the three months ended March 31, from a pace of 1.5 …

New Zealand’s trade surplus in April was smaller than expected as a rise in petroleum imports more than offset increasing meat exports after farmer culled their livestock during this year’s drought. New Zealand’s export receipts outpaced imports by $157 million in April for an annual deficit of $694 million, according to Statistics New Zealand. That’s smaller than the monthly surplus …

By Kirsten Paterson The volume of dairy products offered in the latest GlobalDairyTrade auction fell to the lowest level in almost two years as drought in the North Island curbed milk production. Fonterra Cooperative Group indicated to the market in late January that the volume of product being placed on the GDT was likely to decline over the coming months …

Patchy rains have provided relief for some farming areas and left others without substantive moisture, says Chris Kelly, chief executive of state-owned Landcorp, New Zealand’s biggest farmer. The West of the North Island saw higher rainfall, with 15-40 millimetres from Northland to Waitomo down through to Taranaki. The West Coast, which applied for drought status last week, received 20-40 mm …