Wool prices were firm to slightly easier overall at the North Island wool sale this week. The NZ Wool Services International Coarse Crossbred market indicator was down 4c to $3.74/kg and the Fine Crossbred market indicator eased by 6c to $4.47/kg.

The South Island offering of 14,157 bales saw a 70% clearance, New Zealand Wool Services International's marketing executive, Paul Steel reports.

COWBOY TRADERS in the China infant formula market are a short-term phenomenon, says dairy analyst Tim Morris.

      THERE IS a great myth that New Zealand is open for business. Anyone following the Crafar farms sale and related legal battle could be forgiven for thinking New Zealanders are hocking off land and assets in a laissez-faire fire sale to rapacious foreigners.  However, little could be further from the truth. According to the OECD New Zealand is in fact performing very poorly compared to other countries in the race to attract overseas capital.  Out of 55 countries measured by the OECD regulatory restrictiveness index, New Zealand is ranked as having the sixth most-restrictive foreign investment regime in the world. We are far more restrictive than both the OECD and the non-OECD average. The five regimes more restrictive than New Zealand are China, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, India and Japan.  Analysis by The New Zealand Initiative has delved further into the OECD data, and measured New Zealand’s restrictiveness on an industry-by-industry basis.  Staggeringly, New Zealand has the most restrictive regime of all 55 countries for manufacturing. For a nation that has never-ending debate on how to create value-added export industries, this alone should be cause for great concern. New Zealand is most restrictive, relatively, in the ‘food and…

Wool prices were firmer overall at this week's South Island wool sale. NZ Wool Services International Coarse Crossbred market indicator was up 4c to $3.62/kg.

NGATI REREAHU has in the eyes of some thrown a last-minute spanner in the works of the never-ending Crafar farm sales saga.  They are seeking leave to appeal the Appeal Court’s decision that allows the farms to be sold to Shanghai Pengxin.

A2 CORPORATION pays a premium for its A2 milk of 8-10% above the farmgate price of standard milk, says managing director Geoff Babidge.

NEW ZEALAND infant formula exports to China face growing scrutiny.

The slightly easier New Zealand dollar and increased international demand combined to improve most wool prices this week, New Zealand Wool Services International Ltd's marketing manager, Paul Steel reports.

LAST SEASON’S stupendous production, in particular autumn’s awesome output, saw Fonterra ship a record 620,000t of product in the fourth quarter, 36% more than last year.