Dairy product prices fell to the lowest level since December 2012 in the latest GlobalDairyTrade auction, paced by whole milk powder and anhydrous milk fat. The GDT price index dropped 8.9 percent to US$3,309 a tonne, from US$3,595 a tonne two weeks ago. Some 36,656 tonnes of product was sold, down from 41,513 tonnes two weeks ago. ‘New Zealand’s regional …

LanzaTech New Zealand, which counts US billionaire clean-tech investor Vinod Khosla as its biggest shareholder, posted a wider full-year loss as the company scales up technology that uses microbes to convert industrial waste gases into fuel-grade ethanol and other useful chemicals.  The Chicago-based biotech firm reported a loss of $40.5 million in calender 2013, from a loss of $35.1 million a year …

New Zealand house sales fell in June from a year earlier, led by properties of $400,000 or less, indicating the Reserve Bank’s restrictions on low-equity loans are curbing demand at the cheaper end of the market. Sales fell 6.1 percent in June from the same month of 2013 to 5,763 and were down 12.3 percent from May, according to the Real Estate Institute. …