Latest news with #Zespri
NZ Herald
6 days ago
- Business
- NZ Herald
Agribusiness and Trade: NZ agriculture enjoying blockbuster comeback
Beef: Steering Strong Demand New Zealand's beef sector has enjoyed a standout year, underpinned by resurgent global demand and premium positioning in key export markets. Farmgate prices have surged to levels 35–45% above the five-year average, reflecting strong international appetite for sustainably produced, grass-fed meat. Tariff noise aside, the United States, in particular, has ramped up imports, with New Zealand significantly increasing its share of US beef supply. China and Japan have also shown renewed interest in lean beef cuts, creating diversified market opportunities. On-farm, producers have responded by focusing on efficiency and quality — optimising genetics, refining finishing systems, and improving pasture resilience. With export volumes rebounding to pre-Covid levels and market fundamentals remaining favourable, the beef sector is well-positioned to maintain momentum into 2026. Kiwifruit: Back to Gold Standard After two challenging seasons marked by labour constraints and weather volatility, New Zealand's kiwifruit sector has bounced back with renewed strength and clarity of purpose. Export volumes have recovered, particularly for SunGold varieties, with Zespri forecasting a record crop and export returns surging toward $4 billion — a major driver behind horticulture's overall 19% growth in primary sector exports this year. Improved orchard management, better fruit quality, and more reliable post-harvest performance have been central to this turnaround. Growers are reinvesting confidently, expanding canopy, adopting precision horticulture tools, and upgrading packhouse automation to lift productivity. We have seen and supported increased lending for orchard development finance, seasonal working capital, and long-term investment solutions aligned to land-use ambitions and succession planning. With strong offshore demand from Asia and Europe, and a renewed focus on quality over volume, the kiwifruit sector is once again leading New Zealand horticulture into a prosperous future. Currency & Costs: A Delicate Balance While global uncertainty continues to influence input costs, New Zealand's exporters are benefiting from a favourable exchange rate environment. A weaker New Zealand dollar — trading persistently below US$0.61—has bolstered export competitiveness, lifting farmgate returns across dairy, beef, and horticulture. For many producers, this currency tailwind has helped offset rising costs for key inputs like fuel, fertiliser, and imported machinery. Fertiliser costs have edged higher, with urea prices up 18% and phosphate up 12% year-on-year, driven by international supply constraints and energy prices. However, improved commodity pricing and production scale have largely preserved on-farm margins. At the same time, interest rates are showing signs of continued easing. With the Reserve Bank's gradual loosening of the Official Cash Rate expected into 2026, debt servicing pressure is beginning to ease, improving cashflow certainty for agribusinesses. For many farming operations, the current balance of strong commodity pricing and improving financial conditions represents a window of opportunity to reinvest, restructure, or build resilience ahead of future volatility. Market Sentiment: Confidence Returns to the Paddock After several years of volatility, confidence is returning across New Zealand's rural sector. Farmers and growers are feeling the uplift from stronger returns, a more stable policy environment, and improved seasonal conditions. According to the latest Tracta AgriPulse survey, overall sentiment has turned positive for the first time in two years, with producers citing better payout forecasts, manageable input costs, and stronger support from their banks and industry bodies. This renewed optimism is translating into action: farm development plans including genuine expansion are being reactivated, equipment upgrades are back on the table, and more businesses are engaging in succession conversations. There is also a growing appetite for innovation, with increased investment in digital tools and on-farm data systems. We are seeing this momentum firsthand. Demand for tailored agribusiness lending is rising, and our regional teams are busier than ever helping clients build forward-looking financial strategies. With confidence returning and commodity markets holding firm, New Zealand's rural communities are shifting from cautious survival to confident growth. At BNZ we particularly understand the importance of supporting first farm and herd buyers make the leap from employees to owners. It's an exciting time, as anyone who's gone through it themselves will know, and we see a role here for BNZ to connect new owners with seasoned farmers to help set them up for success. Risks Ahead: Navigating Headwinds in 2025–26 While the outlook for New Zealand agriculture is positive, a few key risks warrant close attention over the coming year. Climate variability remains front of mind, with recent weather patterns highlighting the growing unpredictability of rainfall and temperature across regions. Although La Nina has eased, a shift to more neutral or El Nino-like conditions could bring moisture stress to eastern areas and impact pasture and crop performance. Input cost volatility is also a watchpoint. While commodity returns are strong, global fertiliser and fuel markets remain exposed to geopolitical disruptions, and any sharp movements could squeeze margins — particularly for intensive operations. There are also geopolitical and trade uncertainties to monitor. Changes in global demand, regulatory settings in key markets like China and the US or shifts in trade access could impact export flows. Domestically, evolving expectations around climate and freshwater regulation, as well as emissions pricing, could create compliance and investment pressure, particularly for those not already aligned with industry assurance schemes. But while these risks are real, they are also manageable. Farmers are resilient and have a long and proven history of adapting to change. They are also well capitalised and increasingly supported by sophisticated tools, data, and finance. We understand that a key part of managing risks is partnering with a bank that understands farmers' goals and the strategies they have in place to achieve them. One of the things that sets BNZ's agribusiness offering apart is that our agribankers are the decision-makers. The banker sitting at your kitchen table is often the person who's able to approve your loan. This means that you get a decision on the spot - and the certainty that comes with it. Looking Ahead: A Confident Path Forward New Zealand's agricultural sector enters the next 12 months with real momentum — and a growing sense of purpose. Global demand for safe, high-quality, sustainably produced food is intensifying, and New Zealand remains well placed to deliver it. Our pasture-based systems, strong biosecurity, and trusted provenance continue to command premium positioning across key export markets. BNZ sees this shift every day. We are working with customers who are building future-focused businesses — diversifying revenue streams, embracing on-farm assurance programmes, and planning succession with confidence. With strong commodity prices, improving financial conditions, and a renewed focus on long-term sustainability, the sector has the opportunity to grow both value and resilience. The road ahead won't be without bumps — but with clear direction, deep capability, and a trusted banking partner, New Zealand agriculture is set to thrive in a world that increasingly values exactly what we do best. BNZ is an advertising sponsor of the Herald's Agribusiness and Trade report.
NZ Herald
6 days ago
- Business
- NZ Herald
Agribusiness and Trade: How Fonterra and Zespri are navigating US tariffs
'We're still working through it.' For the horticulture sector's biggest exporter, Zespri, growth in American consumer demand this season has been a 'pleasant surprise', says chief executive Jason Te Brake, offsetting to a degree the 10% extra tariff and prompting the global marketer to pump more fruit this year into a market it's been carefully nurturing in recent years. Photo by Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Media. Zespri CEO Jason Te Brake. Photo / Supplied In response to the higher demand, Zespri will this season deliver 13.5 million trays of New Zealand-grown fruit to the US, compared with a record 11.3m trays in the 2024-2025 season, which earned around $280 million (US sales in 2023-2024 were around $206m.) Zespri will also this season launch its recently commercialised RubyRed fruit to the US. The importer of record in the US is getting no hint Trump is eyeing New Zealand for higher tariffs. 'At this stage we don't expect it. I guess things can change but we're not getting any indication there might be more to come,' says Te Brake. 'Actually, we have a bit more faith in the US market. We anticipated there might be a slowdown in consumption or we might have more local product to compete against, but we're not seeing as much of an impact as predicted. 'There's actually been a bit more of a favourable outcome with demand there.' Zespri did not expect to pass the tariff cost on to US customers at this stage. Mount Maunganui-headquartered Zespri recorded global kiwifruit sales of $5.14b in 2024-2025. New Zealand-grown fruit international sales passed $3b. (The grower-owned company also has the Northern Hemisphere to compensate for New Zealand's off-growing season. On the general mood in international food markets after the new tariffs, Te Brake believes nerves have settled after countries 'booked' the likely impacts. 'It feels like it has stabilised quite substantially in the last two months and actually people are just getting on now. I think they're saying, 'Look we don't know what will happen and we'll respond or react once it's happened.'' The US has surpassed Australia as New Zealand's second most important export market, nearly doubling value in the past decade. Last year the US accounted for around 13% of total New Zealand export value, returning $9b from products led by dairy, wine, meat and machinery. When the 10% tariffs were announced by Trump in early April, it was forecast that if fully passed on to American consumers, they could cost New Zealand exporters $900 million more a year and prompt a drop in demand for Kiwi products. Meat exports to the US last year were valued at $2.7b. The Meat Industry Association anticipated the new tariffs would increase producers' costs 17-fold. Kiwi winemakers sell around $750m of wine to the US each year. Their industry body, NZ Wine Growers, reportedly said the new tariff would cost them $75m. On July 8, Trump announced new tariffs of up to 40% on a swathe of countries. New Zealand wasn't on the list. Fonterra's Allen says the exporter was already dealing with 'very significant' US tariffs on most of the products it exports to America. 'Where we had better access was in some of our more specialised protein products. In those products we were already facing really high hurdles – the 10% tariff effectively is additive to that ... on other products there's no kind of blanket tariff. 'Some faced a per metric tonne charge and it was relatively immaterial. Some faced a percentage charge. But for the products we did enjoy relatively good access on, effectively what it means is that the importer of record – that could be our customers or Fonterra, depending on the relationship or the way we bring the product into market – that importer of record will pay 10% on the product.' Allen says it's still early days on the tariffs. 'It's a top five market for us and we've seen some really significant growth in that market over the last few years and we will continue to see it. It will continue to be a really, really important market for us ... this is just what I would call the reality of doing business and working through it with our customers.' Dairy is one of the world's most trade-protected products globally, Allen says. As to the impact of the US tariffs, there's a whole range of factors that go into contract negotiations with markets and customers, he says. 'So now for us going into the US, this is an additional cost. Where that cost sits is just one of the many costs that come into the equation of international negotiation and setting up these multilateral long-term agreements. 'Remember, for a lot of our large contracts with our large partners, these are multi-year agreements and they're multi-faceted in terms of the inputs and the dynamics that go into them.' As to knock-on effects of the US tariffs in Fonterra's other markets, Allen says they're not yet significant. The escalation of tariffs between the US and China had the potential to impact the US dairy industry in its lower-grade lactose and whey product sales. A by-product of the US' major cheese industry, these products went into animal feed in China. But they're not products Fonterra makes in any quantity. 'In that example, most likely the Europeans or the South Americans or someone would have stepped in. 'Dairy has a pretty unique way of rebalancing itself. It's a bit of a balloon. If you poke it somewhere it tends to poke out somewhere else.' But Fonterra is 'watching carefully' the US-Europe relationship and potential for tariffs, Allen says. 'The EU is a major exporting bloc and they do export a pretty significant amount of product into the US. Again, it's anyone's guess as to what actually happens, but that potentially would have more knock-on effects into the globally traded dairy market.' Trump has since threatened a 30% tariff on EU imports. A Fonterra spokesman said it would be speculative to talk about any potential impact on the globally traded dairy market. For Fonterra, the 'explosion' in US consumer demand for protein and protein-fortified beverages in the past five to seven years presents a 'super-important opportunity', he says. 'Protein consumption has gone from the kind of product weightlifters and hardcore fitness people consumed to being now very much an everyday consumption habit for everyday Americans. Everyday foods are becoming protein-fortified.' Fonterra has for years been investing in creating protein that can go into other foods and is good to eat, he says. 'That's where we hold intellectual property. We hold some really important trade secrets and that's where we think our proteins are a huge opportunity. We've seen double-digit growth in that market in the past few years and we will continue to see protein consumption grow in the US. 'It's being spurred on now with the rise of GLP-1 and weight loss drugs.' GLP-1 receptor agonists mimic the effect of the natural GLP-1 hormone, helping to regulate blood sugar and promote weight loss. 'So the US continues to be a top five market for us.' Fonterra-supplied figures sourced from S&P Global show New Zealand dairy exports to the US between and including 2020 and 2024 totalled $5.5b. In 2020 exports were worth $887.5m. In 2024 they rose to $1.35b. With more than 75% of New Zealand's milk market, Fonterra was responsible for the majority of the exports.
Newsroom
22-07-2025
- Business
- Newsroom
Want better career prospects? Learn three languages, says Zespri
Zespri's China corporate affairs manager says learning te reo Māori and a third language alongside a student's native tongue should be mandated in New Zealand's curriculum. Ivan Kinsella, the only New Zealander based in the kiwifruit marketer's Shanghai office, says proficiency in Chinese has propelled his career and that uptake of the language, along with others, makes young people more competent going out into the world.
Straits Times
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Doubt, dreams and a fear of failing: Lessons from an eight-gold Olympic legend
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Zespri has signed Kiwi kayaker Lisa Carrington on for four years as their first global brand ambassador. . 'Great' has become a label so cheapened, a compliment so overused, a title so casually bestowed, we're not sure what word suffices for kayaker Lisa Carrington. Colossal?
NZ Herald
01-07-2025
- Health
- NZ Herald
Kiwifruit: Dame Lisa Carrington named Zespri's first global brand ambassador
Zespri, the world's largest kiwifruit marketer, has named Dame Lisa Carrington, New Zealand's most decorated Olympian, as its inaugural global brand ambassador. The four-year global partnership aims to inspire people to focus on their health and wellbeing through the goodness of kiwifruit.
