Exchange rate hikes killing NZ industry and jobs

Written By: - Date published: 2:48 pm, July 22nd, 2014 - 42 comments
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Bank-paid economists are predicting the Reserve Bank will again raise benchmark interest rates on Thursday. This may be good for the banks and the currency markets but it is bad news for New Zealand farming exporters and for high-end manufacturing jobs. Our interest rates are among the highest in a world awash with money after quantitative easing in Europe and the US. The CTU has called for a pause, and listed manufacturing jobs lost in the past couple of years because of the exchange rate.

The list of jobs lost where the exchange rate was quoted as a significant factor is here

• 17 July 2014, 36 job losses proposed at Auckland high tech manufacturer, Buckley Systems, citing the exchange rate.

• 19 May 2014, Fitzroy Engineering in Taranaki lays off 28 staff saying the “strong New Zealand dollar” was a factor along with competition for work in Australia. Managing Director Richard Ellis said he’d seen little evidence that Taranaki or the rest of New Zealand had a “rockstar economy”.

• 24 April 2014, Dunedin sawmiller Southern Cross Forest Products announces it is to shed 79 jobs with the closure of its mill in Rosebank, Balclutha, and cuts at other South Island operations. Log prices are a factor.

• 12 April 2012, Christchurch Yarns in receivership, 85 workers expected to be made redundant, resulting from a downturn in orders, particularly in Australia, and the high New Zealand dollar.

• 16 January 2014, New Plymouth-based Fitzroy Yachts, which employs around 120 people, announces it will close its doors. Executive director of the NZ Marine Industry Association Peter Busfield said the high dollar was biting boat builders and other exporters.

• 31 December 2013, SCA Hygiene Australasia finally closes its tissue manufacturing line at its Te Rapa plant having been winding it down over the previous four months, with 140 employees made redundant. A subsidiary of Swedish business Svenska Cellulosa, the company’s Australasian president Peter Diplaris said the decision came down to a challenging market environment and pressure from imports.

• 13 November 2013, 30 staff at Metso New Zealand in Matamata are made redundant after a head office decision in Finland to move more manufacturing to India. The Matamata operation specialised in vertical shaft impact rock crushing equipment and related services for mining and construction. In the past five years staff numbers had been chopped from 133 to 30.

• 19 October 2013, major Rotorua employer Tachikawa Forest Products is placed into receivership, jeopardising 120 jobs. Robert Reid, General Secretary of the FIRST Union which represents two-thirds of the workers says “This receivership comes on top of a continuing contraction of wood processing firms and jobs in New Zealand. The high New Zealand dollar, the high price of logs and the lacking government procurement strategy around both the Canterbury rebuild and government house building programmes see the continuation of raw logs being exported across our wharves while workers lose their jobs in the sector.”

• 23 August 2013, Air New Zealand announces it will axe 180 jobs. Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) assistant director of organising Strachan Crang says the airline’s engineers had worked hard to remain productive. However, unless the dollar fell under US70c it would be impossible to remain competitive against cheaper Asian engineering facilities. ”Over the past three years they’ve delivered productivity gains in the double figures but this has all been eaten away by the high value of the New Zealand dollar”.

The CTU is calling for the Reserve Bank to have a wider range of objectives in its mandate. This is also Labour Party policy.

 

42 comments on “Exchange rate hikes killing NZ industry and jobs ”

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  1. tsmithfield 1
    22 July 2014 at 3:04 pm

    Manufacturing seems to be doing fine despite the dollar.

    A high dollar can actually be beneficial for manufacturers in many instances as it allows them to bring in capital plant at much cheaper prices while the dollar is high. Also, a high dollar keeps other imported costs low (e.g. fuel for instance).

    • McFlock 1.1
      22 July 2014 at 3:24 pm

      Riiiight.

      And overseas-owned consultants in the financial services sector wouldn’t have a vested interest in polishing the high-dollar turd as the election approached.

      I wonder whether their barely-optimistic outlook included dairy. That always skews the manufacturing results if it’s included.

      • tsmithfield 1.1.1
        22 July 2014 at 3:34 pm

        So why should it be excluded? Dairy exports are affected by the high dollar as much as anything else. Manufacturing can succeed in high currency environments. Germany for example.

        • McFlock 1.1.1.1
          22 July 2014 at 4:06 pm

          Because dairy is an unsustainable looting of the land and our waterways which, as lprent has pointed out, is about to be flooded by competitors as places like china crank up production. More cheaply than here, because of the high dollar.

          Not to mention the fact that including it in “manufacturing” (i.e. “making stuff with added value”) in the first place is a tad misleading, imo.

          Germany works largely on quality and a skilled workforce, and is in the middle of its major market. After reaming the education sector for thirty years and the logistics costs, the high dollar is the nail in the imported coffin.

        • henry james 1.1.1.2
          22 July 2014 at 8:48 pm

          The reason the manufacturing industry in Germany is a success, is because all capital equipment purchases in Germany are tax deductible.

          Unfortunately we have political parties in NZ running around promoting winner picking policies – ala the Greens and their batshit crazy idea of green industry – which has proven to be a failure everywhere.

          Come on Labour, get behind your traditional base, the manufacturer and their employees and make all capital purchases of plant tax deductible.

          It will win the election for Labour and guarantee a huge lift in the manufacturing industry and jobs.

          • mikesh 1.1.1.2.1
            22 July 2014 at 10:47 pm

            “Come on Labour, get behind your traditional base, the manufacturer and their employees and make all capital purchases of plant tax deductible.”

            Capital purchases are already tax deductible through the depreciation allowance.

            • henry james 1.1.1.2.1.1
              22 July 2014 at 11:04 pm

              You know what I mean.

              Make them fully tax deductible in the Fiscal Year of purchase, as they are in Germany.

              That’s what will create, growth, innovation, foreign companies setting up here and, of course, employment.

          • Tracey 1.1.1.2.2
            23 July 2014 at 7:26 am

            “batshit crazy” is ignoring enormous opportunities within our economy and without.

            The “green” economy is one proposed aspect we ignore at our peril and allow others to make the money of this potentially trillion dollar industry worldwide.

            http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11226251

            “There was the Hawkes Bay manufacturing company that took part in a three-year waste minimisation programme and saved more than $400,000 each year.

            Or the Christchurch electronics firm that identified a major source of waste in expensive and hazardous circuit paste, and with simple handling changes reduced staff exposure to it and saved $56,000 a year.

            And then there was the Northland company prosecuted and fined for a series of environmental offences, horrifying the directors so much they demanded to be paid out.

            The company was snapped up by an overseas enterprise, prompting one of its Auckland peers to roll out a new environmental training programme for staff.

            Within four years, its turnover had tripled.”

            Yup, those sorts of savings to bottom lines don’t secure jobs, create new ones, pay taxes or help the economy.

            KPMG report and government ocmparissons. China is leading the world on Climate change initiatives

            https://www.kpmg.com/UA/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Documents/KPMG-ENR-Sustainability-Taxes-and-Incentives.pdf

            “Investment in clean technology yields 4 times more jobs than investment in Oil and yields better-paid jobs. While jobs in the fossil fuel economy were lost during the financial crisis, job growth in the green economy remained strong. ”

            Stop thinking with blinkers on. It’s possible to do more than one thing at once.

            • henry james 1.1.1.2.2.1
              23 July 2014 at 9:41 am

              You have perfectly illustrated why the market can sort out the wheat from the chaff when it comes to green jobs/initiatives.

              Anywhere the government has been involved in picking winners in the green “economy” has been an unmitigated disaster.

              My proposal is that the government makes a policy setting that allows ALL businesses and their owners to make the decision on whether the green “economy” is right for them, or whether any other line of enterprise is right for them. The risk of failure is entirely on the business owners, not middle-class taxpayers, who can least afford it.

              • Colonial Viper …
                23 July 2014 at 9:47 am

                Get with the programme and cut your crap proposal.

                Govt is the only entity in NZ willing and capable of taking high levels of forward risk, with payback which may not happen for 10 years or 20 years.

                Anywhere the government has been involved in picking winners in the green “economy” has been an unmitigated disaster.

                More BS. Just looking at the hydro that the NZ Govt built throughout the 20th century says that you are full of shit.

                • henry james …
                  23 July 2014 at 10:13 am

                  What a charming person you seem to be mr colonial. I have seen your name around the traps online and it seems to be usually associated with a fair amount of bile. It is you and your ilk that is turning traditional voters away from the left in NZ.

                  My proposal is not crap. It works extremely successfully in Germany, where they are a manufacturing powerhouse of quality goods. Can you refute this?

                  My proposal is also about making the government not the only entity in NZ capable of taking that forward risk. Maybe you are too full of bile and invective to see that.

                  Look at Xero for instance, it is a company that is trying to build on forward risk, continually using shareholders money to build a profitable entity. One reason they can do this, is that much of their expenditure is tax deductible, as they have a high percentage of expenditure in human capital, rather than infrastructure.

                  Why not give all businesses the same opportunity to grow.

                  • Colonial Viper …
                    23 July 2014 at 11:46 am

                    My proposal is not crap. It works extremely successfully in Germany, where they are a manufacturing powerhouse of quality goods. Can you refute this?

                    Oh FFS where did the money to rebuild German industry come from, if not from the US Gov and US tax payers?

                    Learn some history before spouting more crap.

                    <

                    blockquote>Look at Xero for instance, it is a company that is trying to build on forward risk, continually using shareholders money to build a profitable entity. One reason they can do this, is that much of their expenditure is tax deductible<?

                    <

                    blockquote>

                    Xero’s main success is in big funding rounds premised on short term expectations of even bigger funding rounds next year. So what does that have to do with the long term Green Economy.

                    • henry james …
                      23 July 2014 at 12:00 pm

                      Oh dear, one way to twist an argument..

                      I know full well where the money came from to rebuild Germany post WW2, being a lot older than you, my friend.

                      That is not the point of my argument. The main reason that German industry is so competitive and powerful today is that they can invest and innovate much more freely, due to the fact that capital purchases are tax deductible in the year of purchase.

                      Why are you against making our manufacturing industry as strong as the German one?

                      Is it because we would be seen to be giving a tax reduction to business?

                      The success of Xero’s share price is because of big capital funding rounds. The success of their business is because they have developed a product that the market wants. Significant difference between the two. Do understand the difference, rather than being abusive.

                      Also note, that Xero’s share price is falling sharply, to reflect the true value of the business, not expected forward funding.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      23 July 2014 at 12:13 pm

                      I know full well where the money came from to rebuild Germany post WW2, being a lot older than you, my friend.

                      When things looked at their worst for their economy (post Weimar Republic as well as post WWII), only government money and government planning rebuilt German industry. Not the private sector. That’s the point.

                      The main reason that German industry is so competitive and powerful today is that they can invest and innovate much more freely, due to the fact that capital purchases are tax deductible in the year of purchase.

                      Fine. I’m happy to go the whole hog with you on adopting lessons from German manufacturing then.

                      • High levels of unionisation
                      • Worker representatives on company boards
                      • Heavy regulations on offshoring manufacturing work and manufacturing plants
                      • Aggressive pro-exporter foreign exchange regime
                      • Massive German Govt support for technical, engineering and scientific universities.

                      So you better back these or be shown to be yet another neoliberal pro-tax cuts troll.

                    • henry james …
                      23 July 2014 at 2:47 pm

                      Ah, so it is ideological, considering you won’t look at one policy in isolation, and want to bring in other policies, just because someone else is doing them too…

                      In fact, German and NZ unionisation levels are about the same, and have been so for years, in fact, the German rate is slightly below the NZ rate, according to the OECD. I used to think they had heavy unionisation until I worked there. The unions are very weak outside the big companies and operate with a wholly different philosophy to that which is in NZ.

                      I could potentially agree with having Union/employee reps on company boards, but it would need a fundamental change in the union operating methodology here, including a clean-out of much of the established union leadership.

                      Since the implementation of the Euro, there isn’t the manipulation/control of the currency that they once had under the DM, whilst they do have some control, as the Euro is still effectively tied to the old DM.

                      Totally agree with our universities being supported and directed towards the STEM industries and away from many of the totally useless courses they’re currently promoting, just for bums on seats.

                    • henry james …
                      23 July 2014 at 2:47 pm

                      Ah, so it is ideological, considering you won’t look at one policy in isolation, and want to bring in other policies, just because someone else is doing them too…

                      In fact, German and NZ unionisation levels are about the same, and have been so for years, in fact, the German rate is slightly below the NZ rate, according to the OECD. I used to think they had heavy unionisation until I worked there. The unions are very weak outside the big companies and operate with a wholly different philosophy to that which is in NZ.

                      I could potentially agree with having Union/employee reps on company boards, but it would need a fundamental change in the union operating methodology here, including a clean-out of much of the established union leadership.

                      Since the implementation of the Euro, there isn’t the manipulation/control of the currency that they once had under the DM, whilst they do have some control, as the Euro is still effectively tied to the old DM.

                      Totally agree with our universities being supported and directed towards the STEM industries and away from many of the totally useless courses they’re currently promoting, just for bums on seats.

              • Tracey …
                23 July 2014 at 11:11 am

                You mean like it was left to owners to make sure the mine at Pike River was safe? or the forestry companies to make sure its workers were safe?

                I detect a concern Troll. You pretending you read the linked reports now?

                “Come on Labour, get behind your traditional base, the manufacturer and their employees and make all capital purchases of plant tax deductible.”

                The market says yes aye HJ?

                The reason NZ is so well based in sustainable energy is BECAUSE of Government decisions doofus, not instead of.

                • henry james …
                  23 July 2014 at 11:35 am

                  The inability to deduct capital expenditure had nothing to do with Pike River. In fact, it could be argued that it contributed, as they were paying tax against assets, rather than freeing up capital to invest in more safety systems. But I’m not here to politicise the deaths of 29 good men.

                  So, anyone that is disagreeing with the direction of the party is called a troll, for floating potentially a game changing policy.

                  Any wonder the polls are heading in one direction alone.

                  I shake my head at what I used to vote for has become.

                  I guess I’ll be joining the 800,000 on the sidelines this year….

                  [lprent: Nope. You usually get called a troll when people disagree with you and consider that you might be just pumping astroturf lines. They often say it to draw my attention to a newcomer for a bit of attention. You usually disprove them by :-

                  1. Saying things that show intelligence and an awareness of what other people are saying.
                  2. Not whining about being called a name. I find that irritating squealing to be an attempt to try to change the rules of this site.

                  But you know all this. You have been here several times under several pseudonyms. Having read your comments, I’m generally inclined towards the view that you may not be a troll. Just a arrogant shithead jerk with an over inflated sense of your own self-importance, a inability to ever read what other people are saying, and a near complete unawareness of how this country operates.

                  I’d suggest rereading the policy again might be a good start on your search fro clarity about how this site runs. ]

                  • henry james …
                    23 July 2014 at 2:31 pm

                    Wow, how ironic, someone who regularly points out how great a Sysop they are saying someone else has an over inflated sense of their own self-importance.

                  • Tracey …
                    23 July 2014 at 2:55 pm

                    I am not politicising the pike river deaths, i am telling you what tge report found cos i read it. Corner cutting by employers who could afford to not cut corners but chose to save money, presumably due to pressure to profit for shareholders.

                    As for Zero, they arent a manufacturer

                    • henry james …
                      23 July 2014 at 3:19 pm

                      Not sure how well you read, or more importantly understood the report into the PRC mine disaster.

                      The primary reason behind a lack of safety systems was a lack of money, not to save money and not to profit shareholders, as they had not dug an Oz. of coal out of the ground when those decisions were not made.

                      They did not have the money to spend on adequate ventilation and robust warning systems, that is not to say that should have been operating either. The mine should not have been operating, it should never had been allowed to commence production in the state it was in. PRC should have been effectively made to go back to their shareholders for more capital, such that they could make the mine safe.

                      Oh, if you want to be pedantic, Xero is not a manufacturing company in the purist sense. But they do have capital infrastructure costs. They could also have more, generating more employment, if there were policies in place such as those I describe.

                      Right now, Xero offshore all their hosting to overseas, directly in contravention of IRD policy, although, I believe they got some kind of dispensation. If we had a server farm in NZ, Xero could hold their hosting here, they could even operate their own servers – but they choose not too, because their hosting costs are directly tax deductible, yet for them to build a data centre here is not….

              • greywarbler …
                23 July 2014 at 12:01 pm

                henry j 9.41
                Anywhere the government has been involved in picking winners in the green “economy” has been an unmitigated disaster.

                Don’t repeat your mantras and trite sayings here. It isn’t true. Obviously. No-one who makes firm statements that something is absolute can be believed, so using ‘Anywhere’ is a sure sign that what follows will show no concern for actual facts. Talking derisively about ‘picking winners’ is another bad sign – a repetitive catchphrase used by those with a mind saturated in market propaganda and probably pickled in alcohol.

                I like this quote read recently. This is as good a place to put it as any, and ensures that something useful arises out of here.

                The errors of a theory are rarely to be found in what it asserts explicitly; they hide in what it ignores or tacitly assumes. Kahneman
                (K got the Nobel Prize in economics although he is a psychologist.)

              • aerobubble …
                23 July 2014 at 4:04 pm

                Blinkers. Markets work sometimes and sometimes they fail. You seem incapable of understanding that. Sometimes Government build Green hydro dams, etc. Sometime Industry provides solutions. But mostly our private market solutions have come out of publicly funded research in the western nations over thirty years. Its take thirty years to deliver a new technology to market. Its took a roading network to create the fast food market and super market distribution networks. At the base of all industries is government research and investment in infrastructure.

                Sorry, only a free market buffoon believes government has no part in growth of the economy.

                • aerobubble …
                  23 July 2014 at 4:07 pm

                  Only old industries and the already rich are serviced by less government, its the only way they can maintain their profitability, i.e. by limiting future growth to maintain their niche control. Fear drives the National party ideology, its the same for all fascists, fear is the reason for their ultra conservatism.

              • KJT …
                23 July 2014 at 4:16 pm

                “Picking winners” seems to have worked fine for our dairy industry.

      • john 1.1.2
        22 July 2014 at 4:56 pm

        Statistics NZ says “The volume of sales, excluding meat and dairy product manufacturing, rose 0.7 percent in the March 2014 quarter. This follows a 0.8 percent rise in the December 2013 quarter. ”

        So manufacturing was actually increasing at a healthy rate over the period of the cherry picked doom and gloom list above.

        Similarly misleading and simplistic is the idea that the blame for the high dollar is because of interest rates. There are a large number of factors, not least other countries having to buy NZ dollars to pay for the massive increase in the amount of goods we are exporting.

        • KJT 1.1.2.1
          22 July 2014 at 7:17 pm

          Bullshit. The amount of dollars being bought is a huge multiple of our exports.

          Exports haven’t gone up much by the way. The extra is due to the higher prices we have been getting for milk powder.

          • john 1.1.2.1.1
            23 July 2014 at 12:16 am

            In 2010 we were exporting $3-$3.5 billion per month. This year we’re exporting $4.5-$5 billion per month.

            Yet additional overseas investment into NZ (for ALL investments – bonds, interest accounts, shares and businesses) was just $1.1 billion over the last quarter, or $0.35 billion per month.

            Similarly, other countries printing money devalues their currency which often has a bigger impact than anything happening at this end. That’s why a year or two back some were screaming about out over valued dollar (against the US$) it was actually at a very LOW rate against our biggest trading partner at the time – Australia.

            Then of course there’s also a large effect on the exchange rate from borrowing – with LOW interest rates generally increasing borrowing (and house mortgages alone far exceed the TOTAL of foreign investment in NZ, then there’s farm and business loas as well)

            Which helps explain why our exchange rate is much higher now even though we have relatively low interest rates, but previously the exchange rate was much lower when we had sky high interest rates in double figures.

    • greywarbler 1.2
      22 July 2014 at 7:39 pm

      @tsmithfield and Jepenseque
      How nice to find a silver lining always in yours or others pockets. No need to make any changes providing that you or people you like to mix with are happy. The rest of the great unwashed are not worth spitting on.

  2. Jepenseque 2
    22 July 2014 at 4:17 pm

    Left wing parties should be even more supportive of strong inflation control as inflation tends to hurt the poor the most as their wages and cash savings take a hit in purchasing power while the rich see their property and share portfolios sometimes debt funded increase in value. False hope of being able to have it all via mythical monetary policy reform is no panacea. Cheers

    • KJT 2.1
      22 July 2014 at 7:26 pm

      The poor do not have “savings”.

      Inflation removes the value of monetary speculation.

      A natural offsetting mechanism.

      The RBA ensures that any economic recovery goes into bank profits instead of wages.

      Inflation is good for borrowers. The ordinary young worker with a mortgage, and bad for people who make their money by having money.
      Which is why it is artificially held down by the same people who say that we should not interfere in markets. Unless it benefits them of course.

      http://kjt-kt.blogspot.co.nz/2013/05/the-reserve-bank-debt-and-property.html
      “In New Zealand we have the “Reserve Bank Act”.
      Which basically requires the reserve bank to kill the rest of the economy, whenever Auckland house prices, or wages, rise”.

      http://howdaft.blogspot.co.nz/2013/05/the-reserve-bank-debt-and-property.html
      ” What hasn’t been commented on is that an increase in interest rates will also penalise every business and household in the country including everyone resident in Auckland and Christchurch who already have a mortgage and have no intention of buying or selling a home. There will be no beneficial behaviour change within that wide group who are not seeking to get further into debt but it will impose hardship and constrain the rest of the economy. The interest rate rise would be imposed simply as an attempt to limit price rises in response to artificial shortages of housing in two localised parts of the property market.
      The more sensible action would be to address the cause of these shortages rather than attempt to alter the market response by raising interest rates.
      The Reserve Bank Act is not only completely ineffectual at slowing property prices it is the root cause of property price inflation. Because the Reserve Bank Act obliges debtors to pay over the market price for debt, it also guarantees lenders greater than normal market returns on investments”.

      The RBA is an extremely effective mechanism to make sure that any signs of recovery in New Zealand’ economy are buried in bank profits.

      http://kjt-kt.blogspot.co.nz/2010/08/more-stupidity-from-reserve-bank-act.html
      “Of course raising business interest rates beyond that of overseas competitors has no effect on prices and competitiveness. Right!! And interest rate rises of themselves are not a driver of inflation. Right!! And higher interest rates in NZ do not give windfall profits to overseas banks and finance companies. Right!! And lower wages and higher prices do not drive borrowing to live. Right!!”

  3. Mariana Pineda 3
    22 July 2014 at 4:30 pm

    Notice that term deposit rates have hardly moved whereas lending rates have moved substantially.
    It shows that the banks will be absolutely creaming it while good workers are thrown on the scrap heap.

    Loyal kiwi manufacturers are being disadvantaged due to a government who has no plans and no solutions for them because it is likely they favour multi-nationals.

    Too many manufacturers would rather buy very cheap and non-unionised slaves in low wage economies as well. They can probably borrow funds over there as well on much lower interest rates than kiwi based manufacturers can get.

    Free trade is a farce and only benefits the unethical.

    • Gareth 3.1
      22 July 2014 at 8:30 pm

      Free trade is great, on one condition.

      You can get lots of benefits from making trade easier, but you should never make it easier for capital to move around.

      Most free trade deals these days aren’t really free trade deals. They have some tariff reductions, but primarily they are designed to make it easier to move capital around which is very bad.

      Have a look at this online comic designed to explain the TPP, it covers the problems with trade agreements in general as well as the TPP specifically: http://economixcomix.com/home/tpp/

      • greywarbler 3.1.1
        23 July 2014 at 10:09 am

        @ Gareth 8.30 pm
        Michael Goodwin and Dan E Burr two names that have produced a masterpiece of work for the 21st century.

        Thanks very much for that Gareth. I am sure that you won’t mind me putting the link on Open Mike, Tawhera so that everybody gets the chance to see it.

  4. greywarbler 4
    22 July 2014 at 8:49 pm

    A bit out of the time-frame but here is an example of business and money gone offshore. Griffins biscuits is being bought for $700 million by some outfit in the Philippines from Pacific Equity Australia. I remember when it was a NZ company making biscuits and sweets with its main office in Nelson. It was sold to Nabisco of the USA in about 1964. They had it for some time and then sold to Danone see note below.

    Griffins is still using much the same recipes it had in 1964. They could be making them here and selling them here and elsewhere and it would have been a lovely viable little export business. Why can’t we have an investment arm that buys NZ companies like this, and then offers shares – part private, part government. It would be a good use of the public-private partnership.

    But we don’t and constantly something good that NZ develops is sold overseas and the market is developed and someone else gets the long-term profits and we are back milking cows for a living. And soon even that will be robotised and no-one will be there to call the cows Daisy and Belle. Someone talking the other day said their cows came when their names were called.

    (Danone is trying to sue Fonterra for $300 million plus add ons that would take it to $600 million for a product being called into question that had to be recalled, as we know about. Rod Oram was talking about it today on Radionz. They are going before a mediator in Singapore to pass judgment, but may still go to trial. Below is wikipedia about them – it pays to know your enemies.)

    The Groupe Danone is a French food-products multinational corporation based in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. It produces fresh dairy products,[2] bottled water, cereals, baby foods[3] and yogurts. In the United States it is marketed as the Dannon Company.
    The company owns several internationally known brands of bottled water: Aqua, Volvic, Evian, and Badoit; in Asia, it owns Yili, Aqua (Indonesia), Sehat (Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore) and Robust, Bonafont in Mexico, and has a 51% holding in China’s Wahaha Joint Venture Company. About 56% of its 2006 net sales derived from dairy, 28% from beverages, and 16% from biscuits and cereal.

  5. greywarbler 5
    23 July 2014 at 9:33 am

    This is the latest in Business News 6.45am on Radionz each morning. Good place to listen if you want to know more than just what the prices are for our exchange rate and the good or bad feelings driving the thinking people in the market as they react to the computer generated prices of shares etc.

    Tech companies good. If they stay here. Better if they have NZ graduates working for them. Even better if they stay in NZ owned and based hands.

    Tech companies regard NZX as a good bet ( 1′ 34″ )
    06:57 Technology companies are continuing to list on the stock exchange as investors have shown an appetite for high-growth companies with ambitious plans and sometimes little revenue.

    This is good – the venture investment fund news. In Nelson there is a small trust that lends out funds to individuals trying to start a viable business for themselves .
    http://www.nelt.org.nz/about-nelson-enterprise-loan-trust/
    How many of these are around the country, and how can we get bigger footprint with something like the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. If they can do it, couln’t we?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grameen_Bank

    Venture Investment Fund helps more than 100 start-up companies ( 2′ 32″ )
    06:55 The Venture Investment Fund has helped more than a hundred new companies get started with seed capital, but many more are still looking for help.

    We have had many successful companies start up in the alcohol business, vodka, whisky, craft beer, wine, cider – but it’s a bit like dairy, too much of it skews the market, and ultimately is not good for the country, and can affect susceptible individuals’ health. So the news of MOA growing is good, but let’s get other industries going.

    MOA group says sales are up sharply following structure changes ( 1′ 33″ )
    06:52 Craft beer brewing company, Moa, says the company has doubled its market share and increased its sales by 95 percent in the past nine months.

    And more playing with our monopoly money. It’s a bit like the gods in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, watching the world below with interest, both subjective and objective, while they instigate changes a la chaos theory, and scientifically assess the effects. While the money managers count the cash in its economic divisions, we run faster on our mousewheels under the prod of productivity. Good play on words there!
    Another one – ‘some more’ begets mores, meme, ends up, morose.

    A fund manager says an OCR hike on Thursday is iffy ( 2′ 43″ )
    06:50 Harbour Asset Management is bucking conventional wisdom by calling the Reserve Bank’s decision on whether to raise interest rates on Thursday a fifty-fifty call.

  6. philj 6
    23 July 2014 at 9:50 am

    xox
    “Bank paid economists !” Is there any other than bank sponsored economists allowed in the public media space? What ever became of independent academic university economists. Do they still exist? You are only getting the “bank paid economists” (Banksters in drag) analysis folks. They rule this rock star economy of NZ/USA. Private, corporate vested interest . Another version of TINA.

  7. SPC 7
    25 July 2014 at 9:01 am

    Bollard said one alternative was a surcharge on mortgages – that would enable the OCR (and dollar) to be kept lower.

    It has the benefit of raising tax revenues – a 1% surcharge would raise $2B pa. On top of that higher taxes from GST (lower dollar means goods cost more and thus higher GST off sales) and off higher taxable export revenue.

    Done at .25% in 4 instalments, it would replace an increase in OCR from say 3 to 4%.