China’s $US6 billion a year nutritional powders market will have a new competitor  next year with the launch a2 branded ‘natural milk’ powders. To further its entry into the Chinese market which is growing around 12 per cent a year, A2 Corporation has appointed China State Farms (Shanghai) as its distributor. The powders will be produced in New Zealand by …

President Barack Obama landed a lot of punches in his foreign policy debate with Mitt Romney in Boca Raton, Florida,” says Lowy Institute Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove. “But President Obama’s truest line of the night was when he said to Governor Romney: ‘You say you would do the same things we did but you would just say them louder.’” …

Eleven candidates are seeking election to the Fonterra board as shareholder directors: They are Blue Read, Donna Smit, Eric Ray, Grant Cochrane, Grant Rowan, Jacqueline Rowarth, Jan Marten Kingma, Lachie Cameron, Michael Spaans and the two incumbent directors John Wilson and Nicola Shadbolt. Candidates for the Fonterra Directors’ election were announced following the completion of the Candidate Assessment Panel (CAP) …

The 2012/13 season is expected to be more subdued for pastoral farm businesses as product prices come off recent highs, the Ministry for Primary Industries says. MPI has released the 2012 pastoral farm analyses as part of its annual Farm Monitoring Report series. The reports provide models and overviews of the financial performance of typical dairy, sheep and beef, and …

Chinese women dominate latest Hurun Report, half of the 22 self-made female entrepreneurs worth over US$1 billion are from China. The number of women making the cut this year fell from 28 in 2011 to 22. Of the top ten women on the list, seven are from China. The average wealth is 13.7 billion yuan, a decrease of 6.8 percent compared …

Lowy Institute’s Dr Michael Fullilove  “At first glance, the differences between the two candidates for president of the United States in 2012, President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney, are striking. Each candidate is doing his best to emphasise these differences. Most commentators have drawn sharp distinctions between the two candidates on foreign policy. Global perceptions of the two men …

The majority of New Zealanders aged 14+ years are now using some form of social media. Having monitored Facebook for over five years, Roy Morgan Research also reports that over half of New Zealanders (56%) use Facebook in an average four weeks. These finding are from ‘The Digital Universe’ report, recently released by Roy Morgan Research. Currently visited by 2 …

All Blacks legendary captain and captain of business Sir Wilson Whineray passed  away yesterday aged 77. Sir Wilson played 32 tests for New Zealand, and was captain in all but two of them. He rose to great heights in his business career chairing Carter Holt Harvey for a decade and also National Bank. Auckland International Airport chairman Joan Withers said today, …

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce has welcomed the establishment of the New Zealand India Research Institute, heralding the start of a closer research relationship between New Zealand and India.  The New Zealand India Research Institute will be administratively based at Victoria University in Wellington and will involve nearly 40 academics in five New Zealand universities – Victoria, …

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully today congratulated Australia, together with Luxembourg, Korea, Argentina and Rwanda, on their election to non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council. “I have congratulated Foreign Minister Carr on a well-fought campaign, which Australia thoroughly deserved to win,” McCully says. “New Zealand looks forward to working closely with Australia during its two-year tenure on the …