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 New Zealand export log prices were unchanged this month amid uncertainty about the outlook for China’s economy. The average wharf gate price for New Zealand A-grade logs held at $86 a tonne in July from June, according to AgriHQ’s monthly survey of exporters, forest owners and sawmillers. The AgriHQ Log Price Indicator, which measures average log prices weighted by grade, fell …

Andrew Robinson, a struck off financial adviser and former director of Strategic Planning Group, has been jailed for six years after pleading guilty to fraud charges earlier this year. Robinson was sentenced in the High Court in Auckland today, having pleaded guilty to five charges of theft by a person in a special relationship and one charge of dishonestly using …

Federated Farmers says top management should be leaving Fonterra Cooperative Group if results don’t start improving in the next couple of years. The comments, from Fed Farmers dairy chair Andrew Hoggard were in response to the confirmation today by the world’s largest dairy exporter that it will cut 523 jobs to save up to $60 a million a year on its payroll …

Weaker dairy prices have prompted analysts to pull back their expectations for Fonterra Cooperative Group’s payout to farmers this season, with most now expecting this year’s payout will be below last year’s, which is likely to put pressure on farm incomes and see debt levels rise. The price for whole milk powder, New Zealand’s key commodity export, dropped 13 percent …

Dairy product prices sank in the latest GlobalDairyTrade auction, paced by cheddar and whole milk powder, reflecting a sombre outlook. The GDT average winning prices sank 10.7 percent to US$2,082, down from US$2,276 at the previous auction two weeks ago. It was the lowest level since July 2009. Some 31,691 tonnes of product was sold, down from 33,200 tonnes of …

In the 2015 Agribusiness report, we dug deep into NZ’s biggest industry, we looked at how the major players are faring. Examining industry structures, global supply chains and government programmes to support the industry. We considered the opportunities and constraints on New Zealand agribusiness and some of the rising star companies in agritechnology. We also looked at rapidly developing market …

Wall Street fell, along with European equities, amid concern about the persistent fire-sale of Chinese stocks and the outlook for the Asian nation’s economy. A 5.9 percent slump in the Shanghai Composite Index Wednesday brought its plunge since June 12 to 32 percent, according to Bloomberg. “The China selloff is spooking the markets,” Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Group …

Trade Ministers from the 12 negotiating countries for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will hold a four day ministerial in Maui from July 28-July 31 to try and get agreement on the thorny issues holding up the resolution of the deal. “The upcoming ministerial provides an important opportunity to build on this progress as we work to conclude the negotiation,” said the formal …

341 global civil society organizations – including development advocates, trade unions, farmers’ organizations, consumer and environmental groups from over 100 countries – sent a letter to WTO members today urging them to abandon the WTO expansion talks and instead focus on an urgent agenda to fix existing damaging rules in the WTO. July 31, 2015 is the date by which …

Pushpay Holdings, the mobile payments app developer, boosted revenue 39 percent in the first quarter as growth in its US faith-based merchants offset a decline in its SMS business. Total annualised committed monthly revenue was $12.8 million at June 30, up from $9.2 million three months earlier, the Redmond-based company said in a statement. Merchant ACMR, which tracks its clients who use the PushPay …