New Zealanders are following the global trend of abandoning landlines in favour of mobile phones and online communication, leaving telecommunication companies racing to find new revenue streams, said Paul Brislen CEO of Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand. The 2013 census shows that 81 percent, or 1.3 million New Zealand households had access to a fixed-line telephone, down from 88 …

Personal income statistics from the 2013 national census show the annual median income in Canterbury was the second highest in the country, overtaking Auckland since the last census in 2006, in a trend that appears to reflect strong dairying growth overcoming earthquake impacts. The census shows that Wellingtonians’ median income remains the highest in the country, at $32,700, although the …

New Zealand commodity prices rose to a record in January, led by gains in butter. The ANZ Commodity Price Index advanced 1.2 percent to 334.3 from December. The index is 23 percent above January 2013. International prices for 10 of New Zealand’s main commodities increased in the month, three fell and four were unchanged. Butter prices led the gains, up …