Increased activity from China and India helped lift some wool sector prices significantly for the 11,700 bales on offer this week, New Zealand Wool Services International Ltd's general manager, John Dawson reports.

Landcorp Farming expects substantial further growth in last year's record dairy production, through the joint venture with Shanghai Pengxin of China and enlargement of established dairy complexes including Wairakei Estate in the central North Island.

DAIRY INDUSTRY leaders are certain about one thing: uncertainty in the global dairy market.

A full cross-section of wool types from the 12,800 bales on offer attracted solid interest with 79% selling, reports New Zealand Wool Services International Ltd's general manager, John Dawson.

Westpac economists are forecasting global dairy and beef prices to rise on the back of drought in the US and elsewhere.

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.