The media response to sheep shearing's potential as a Commonwealth Games demonstration sport, if not the Olympics, has gone international.

Fonterra has broken its record for the highest export month with 246,000 tonnes of dairy products loaded on ships during December. The shipments boosted New Zealand's economy by $1.3 billion for the month.

Wool prices fell again this week with the New Zealand dollar up 4.45% against the main currencies since the last sale on December 21, says Wool Services International.

DAIRY COMMODITY prices dipped overnight on Fonterra’s GlobalDairyTrade platform with the trade weighted index of all commodities down 1.6%.

MAF says the Emissions Trading Scheme, and a generally positive outlook for wood and fibre demand, is behind a 27% increase in exotic forest plantings in the year to April 2011.

New Zealand’s competitive advantage as the world’s largest and most efficient producer of velvet is being frittered away by market ill discipline and an obsession with competition at the farm-gate, says a producer-owned co-operative.

WOOL PRICES at yesterday’s (December 15) auction were 2-4% down on last week’s sale, which also saw a drop of about 4% overall.

ABOVE AVERAGE production and prices bode well for pastoral agriculture in 2011/12, says MAF on releasing its half year update of its annual Situation and Outlook for New Zealand Agriculture and Forestry (SONZAF) report.

When the Hong Kong government dropped all taxes on the importation of wine in 2008, it opened the doors to every wine producing nation in the world. In the first eight months of this year, the country imported US$857 million dollars worth of wine. More importantly, it exported $191 million worth, with the majority of it heading into Mainland China. The country has made no bones about wanting to be Asia's if not the world's, wine hub.

MAF DIRECTOR-general Wayne McNee says he's asked for a detailed review of last month's strawberry growing kit biosecurity incident but the response to the recall has been blasted by Hort NZ.