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Message from the executive director

Welcome to 2013 – let’s hope we get a bounce back in global demand and see good growth in our export businesses. 

At the end of last year I was in Denmark for some meetings focusing on competitiveness and building companies of scale.  The Confederation of Danish Industry has produced a report since 2005 that compares the OECD countries competitiveness over a range of benchmarks.  While NZ compares pretty well at number 11 overall, there is plenty of room for improvement.  One area where we have gone backwards compared to other countries is on our costs and taxes. 

We have gone from number 5 to number 24 between 2005-2012, which means our cost of doing business has increased relative to our OECD competitors.  We should have a hard look at fixing this as it is within the Government’s direct control and we need to be enhancing our competitiveness, not slipping so far behind in such a short timeframe.  A tough call when the Government is trying to get back into surplus, but this should be high on the policy agenda (rather than new spending promises) once we get back into the black.

Catherine Beard
027 463 3212 or cbeard@exportnz.org.nz

Benchmarking global competitiveness

The Confederation of Danish Industry has produced a really good benchmarking report on global competitiveness.  NZ has gone up one place to number 11 out of 33 OECD countries based on 92 benchmarks.

However, it's rather alarming that we have dropped from 5th to 24th on costs and taxation competitiveness between 2005 and 2012 - click here for graphs. We are losing ground here and this needs further investigation. 

You can download the report here.

C Beard

Trade Update – who will take over at WTO?

It's now a nine horse race for the top job at the WTO since the deadline expired on 31 December. With more candidates than expected to take over from Director-General Pascal Lamy, there were some surprises in there too. If Trade Minister Tim Groser is selected, could this advantage New Zealand? More...

Export report – beyond the population debate

As 2012 drew to a close, it was great to see our "Lifting Export Performance" report, authored by NZIER, sparking debate around the country. Discussion mainly focused on what size the NZ population should be, however there is a lot more to consider.

As we move into the New Year, it's important we pay attention to other issues highlighted in the report, which are also critical to New Zealand's success. Here's a reminder of the key points from the report...

C Beard

EU recognition of privacy law gives NZ competitive advantage

NZ is one of only five countries to be recognised by the EU as having adequate data protection for EU countries to send personal data to New Zealand for processing without the need for extra controls. This competitive advantage will open up new opportunities for Kiwi businesses. More...

Opportunities and developments in Brazil

New Zealander Tim King, along with Australian business partner Brendan Dennis, runs a consultancy in Sao Paulo, Brazil (BRAANZ) which helps Kiwi companies develop business in Brazil and South America. Here Tim updates us on the latest developments and opportunities. More...

Government extends support for exporters

Exporters will have access to improved support from the New Zealand Export Credit Office under changes announced by the Government. More...

Attention food & beverage exporters

The growing importance of sustainability as a market driver in some of New Zealand's food and beverage export markets has led MFAT and NZTE to prepare a quarterly report for business people highlighting trends and issues in key markets.

These include individual market reports by country and also sectors such as meat, dairy and seafood, wine, functional foods and organics, and sustainability.

You can check out the reports here.

ExportNZ
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