30 Oct:  New Zealand and the United Kingdom have much to gain from a free-trade agreement to be negotiated after Britain has left the European Union, British High Commissioner Jonathan Sinclair told the Otago Daily Times that a free-trade agreement would benefit both economies.says.

The next four or five years should be used by the two countries to strengthen their already close relationships, he said.

Mr Sinclair visited Dunedin on Friday as part of his farewell process. He leaves for London on December 9 after spending three and a-half years in New Zealand as High Commissioner.

Continue to the full article here  ||  October 30,  2017   |||

27 Oct:  A regional petrol tax to help fund Auckland city's transport infrastructure comes amid a global change in the air for user-pays funding for major projects, provided the benefits stack up for those footing the bill.

US President Donald Trump is reportedly toying with the idea of hiking fuel taxes as a means to fund his promised US$1 trillion of infrastructure investment, which was a key policy plank in his successful bid for the White House last year. That would end a 24-year freeze on US petrol taxes and marks "a massive shift" for user-pays funding models, says KPMG's Americas and India head of global infrastructure Stephen Beatty.

"It will send a signal to all politicians it is possible to raise charges as long as you're prepared to provide something to the people that you are charging," Beatty told Infrastructure New Zealand's building nations symposium in Wellington today. "Our credibility as public servants is not high because we aren't delivering the value we need to and we are apologising when we raise any charges for it, and so I would urge everybody in the room to turn to the new government and say don't apologise but make sure you deliver benefits at the same time."

Both major political parties made big-spending infrastructure promises in the lead-up to the September election to meet New Zealand's expanding population, which has seen a shortfall of housing drive up property prices and increase traffic congestion, while at the same time local authorities are hamstrung in their ability to pay for upgrades to municipal infrastructure.

Beatty told the conference that the big questions for policymakers to answer is funding projects, which is whether the taxpayer or users foot the bill over an extended period of time, rather than financing, which is simply where the immediate cash comes from. "It's not about financing, it's about funding. Does the base business case actually work?" he said.

Continue here to the full article on ShareChat  ||   October 27,   2017   |||

27 Oct:  A bad batch of fungicide has ruined apples in the Nelson region in New Zealand and some fruit will be destroyed instead of exported, a grower says.

An apple grower in Nelson, said it was the active ingredient mancozeb causing the problem, damaging numerous orchards in Nelson and several in Hawke's Bay.

He said in his orchard the fungicide has caused russet on apple skins, knocked fruit off trees too early, and damaged leaves, resulting in lower quality apples that he said would not meet export standards.

New Zealand Apples and Pears chief executive Alan Pollard said the industry was in the early stages of investigating the problem.

"We are aware that an issue has arisen, particularly in Nelson. It appears that a spray has been applied in the early stages of fruit development. It seems to have caused some damage to the developing fruit.

"We have recalled the product which is the first stage. We are just in the process now of evaluating the extent of the impact of the issue."

Mr Pollard said he did not know how many orchards were affected, but those that were would not necessarily be written off and hoped that some fruit could be spared.

"Hopefully, not all the fruit on the tree will be subject to that and we'll be able to save some."

New Zealand Apples and Pears said it was talking with the supplier of the product, and working out what process they have used.

Mr Pollard said it was too early to know if the chemical supplier would be held accountable for damaging crops.

"We are trying to understand what has happened and why, and once we do that we will be in a better position to see what happens from there."

| A FreshPlaza release   |  October 27,  2017   |||

27 Oct:  Lets play with heavy machinery.  And in Invercagill they are doing just that.  The attraction has just opened that will allow you to rip, push and pull to your heart’s content using heavy machinery. Dig This Invercargill is New Zealand’s first heavy equipment playground, and while it doesn’t sound like a typical tourist attraction, it definitely seems like great fun.

Guests are given the opportunity to choose from nine fun options where they get to operate bulldozers, excavators, mini excavators and skid steers in a giant gravel pit. There’s no need to worry if you haven’t driven heavy machinery before, as the experienced team in charge will show you how. You don’t even need to have a driver’s licence, and there are activities for the young, young at heart and groups.

Once you have selected your experience, it is recommended that you book online or contact the team to secure your spot. When you take the controls of Dig This Invercargill’s massive machines, you get a quick overview of the safety procedures you will be required to follow and must pass the breathalyser test before being fitted with a neon yellow vest and hardhat.

The instructors will talk you through every detail you’ll need to know in order to manoeuvre the machines and give you the confidence it takes to manage the machine. Operating them might take a little getting used to, so the company has designed a series of warm-up exercises to help. You will be connected via headset to the instructors at all times, which ensures you’re under their watchful eyes. From here you will be digging, trenching and pushing yourself around the lot in no time.

Once you’re comfortable, the team will guide you through a series of activities to test your skills.

| A Lonely Planet release  ||  October 27,  2017   |||

26 Oct:  After just 18 months in business, PS Duo – a professional services company which sprung from distributor Duo – is celebrating multiple wins, including its inclusion on the New Zealand Government ICT Security and Related Services Panel.

Jackie Hatchwell, PS Duo director, says the business – which operates separately from Duo and provides contractors for brands not represented by Duo, as well as those that are – is ‘a huge growth area for us’.

PS Duo has just been appointed to the ICT Security and Related Services (SRS) panel, is in discussions with vendors about whitelisted professional services and has a growing stable of contractors with the service being adopted by increasing numbers of resellers.

The SRS panel, designed to help government agencies manage privacy and security issues, has seen 40 service providers contracted to provide services for eligible government agencies across the five categories of ICT security and related services.

PS Duo was appointed as a primary vendor across infosec risk management and assessment, infosec governance and strategy and infosec assurance on the panel.

It was also appointed to provide ancillary services across source code, application review and technical testing and ICT forensics, investigation and security incident response.

“It shows that we have resource available in each of the categories and what we can deliver with that resource,” Hatchwell says. “There’s a lot behind a government tender and it’s great to be part of that panel now.”

The appointment to the panel follows a busy year for the company which has added a minority shareholder and director, with Clint Revell joining the team, and built out a network of around 60 contractors nationwide to call on, with the aim of providing a skilled resource, almost on tap for reseller partners.

Hatchwell says the service has been well received, with 18 contractors currently out on long term engagements of eight to 12 months, and another seven or eight out any given week on short term engagements.

Hatchwell says the company is also seeing increasing diversity in its reseller partners.

Initially used primarily to backfill resource for Tier 1 resellers with their own security practices, PS Duo is increasingly being called on to help Tier 2 resellers who don’t have their own in-house security resource for projects.“We’ve got a number of Tier 2 reseller partners across both the North and South Island now, which just shows the conversation around security is widening.

“Their customer base is more aware of what is happening so when someone wants someone to come in and look at their system and do a health check on it, if you’re a Tier 2 you may not have that resource available.

“Rather than independently going out and finding someone to do it for them or going to one of the big four, the resellers are coming to us.”

But it’s not just resellers and some end users looking to take advantage of PS Duo’s resources, with the company in discussion with several vendors about whitelabelled professional services – essentially providing vendors with a local professional services arm.

Hatchwell says discussions are underway with two vendors currently on the logistics of providing the service.

“We’ve been approached by a number of vendors about that. A couple are vendors Duo already represents here in New Zealand, but others are vendors that we don’t distribute.

“At the moment they’re having to bring people in internationally because they don’t have access to any skill set here.”

The contractors would be trained up at the vendor’s cost.

“It’s another added benefit for the contractors,” Hatchwell says.

Hatchwell says a large priority for her is making the contractors, who are spread across New Zealand, feel like they are part of a team, rather than independent contractors.

The company has built a collaboration tool to ensure contractors can communicate with each other and ask for help from other contractors.

“We’re encouraging everyone to use it and it’s paying for itself in the sense of being a fantastic way for the contractors to not only help each other out, but get to know each other,” she says.

Hatchwell says the company is also building out an education calendar to enable its contractors to quickly locate training – which can be spread across multiple providers depending on who distributes a product – and upskill.

| A ChannelLife release   ||  October 26,  2017   |||

26 Oct:  South Port New Zealand Ltd, operator of the Port of Buff, has benefited from a long running positive economic cycle in the New Zealand economy which has supported growth in cargo volume and profitability, the Company’s shareholders were told at today’s Annual Meeting held at Bluff.  The Company’s Chairman, Mr Rex Chapman, indicated that the economic momentum has continued into the current 2017-18 year.  This 2017 result again emphasised the importance of bulk cargos to South Port’s business.

"South Port is primarily a bulk port with a container operation. Bulk or break bulk cargos comprised over 2.6 million tonnes with containers representing just over 400,000 tonnes. This equates to a volume split of 86% bulk vs. 14% for containers."

"Within the main bulk cargoes of forestry, NZAS cargo, fertiliser, petroleum and stock food, the log category continued to show strong growth. Log exports reached a new record of 560,000 tonnes while forestry in total now represents almost 30% of South Port’s overall cargo."

Other bulk cargo volumes were generally steady.

Continued growth in container throughput propelled South Port to a new record of 39,300 TEU, up from 35,100 in the previous year. This increase in container volumes was primarily due to an increase in dairy related exports and inbound cement, fertiliser and farm nutrition products.

FY17 net profit was $8.45 million, a very satisfactory result, although below the FY16 record of $8.71 million. One of the significant differences in financial performance in FY2018 was an 18% increase in the cost of repairs and maintenance which was forecast last year.

Guidance was for FY17 profit to be back by about 15% which would have delivered a profit in the order of $7.4 million and so the Company bettered forecast by over $1 million.

"Another positive was that we were able to once again, for the second year in a row, break 3 million tonnes of cargo and we matched last year’s record volume of 3.05 million tonnes."

This year’s sound financial result has enabled the Board to pay a final dividend of 18.5c which translates to a full year dividend of 26c, the same as last year.

Mr Chapman said, "At this early stage of the financial year, we are expecting South Port’s main cargoes of logs, NZAS, dairy exports, petroleum and fertiliser to show modest growth in the next 12 months.

"The dairy sector appears to be on a more stable platform and this should support both the bulk and containerised cargoes which are associated with it."

"Given reasonably stable volumes for the year, we are predicting that our earnings will be broadly consistent with the past year and on that basis the Board will be aiming to maintain the current level of dividend pay-out."

An update of earnings will be provided when the interim result is released.

Mr Chapman commented on the consolidation amongst the container shipping lines.

Three global alliances have emerged which now control over 77% of global container shipping capacity.

Over recent years, the size of new container vessels being built has grown from 10,000 to 14,000 TEU vessels to 18,000 and now 22,000 TEU size. "However, it has recently been reported in shipping media that there is starting to be a difference in opinion between the biggest two shipping lines, MSC and Maersk as to whether or not this trend will continue. Maersk now believe that the race for bigger and bigger ships is gone for the foreseeable future."

"There are several reasons for this; the range of ports that are capable of handling these larger vessels is limited and larger ships mean less frequency of sailings which does not suit importers and exporters."

"The rationale for using larger vessels was to get economies of scale and reduce costs, but these financial benefits are only obtained if the ships are full. With the present excess capacity in the global market, that is difficult to achieve."

"In New Zealand there continues to be strong competition amongst all ports for containerised cargo within their catchment", he said. In many cases, the natural catchment of the port is being extended by inland ports, "a trend that is likely to continue."

Mr Chapman noted that all ports have a different mix of cargos, revenue streams and in some cases non-port businesses.

He provided a comparison of South Port’s percentage of net profit after tax derived from port revenues with that of four other ports.

The analysis shows that South Port converts 23% of its revenue to net profit after tax which Mr Chapman says compares very favourably with the peer group percentages of between 11.9% and 18.5%. "South Port’s performance demonstrates the importance of our favourable bulk cargo mix."

South Port’s business has a greater weighting towards bulk cargos than containers and also has a diverse range of bulk cargos, both on the import and export side.

Bulk cargos by their nature require less people to handle and operational plant interaction, he noted. These cargoes move in larger volume parcels and thus provide a better gross margin than containerised cargo.

Whist there is better margin at a gross level, the Port must provide extensive infrastructure which, in South Port’s case, is requiring increased spending on maintenance to sustain.

The Company distinguishes between growth-related capital expenditure and ‘stay-in-business’ capex required every year within the existing business. A Board objective is to ensure that annual total "stay in business" capex does not exceed depreciation expense.

During the coming year two significant capital projects will be undertaken:

- Construction of a replacement pipe and access corridor for the Town Wharf fuel import berth at an estimated cost of $5 million; and

- Paving of one hectare of the log storage area, coupled with installation of an improved drainage system for a total of $2.2 million.

These two projects make up $7.2 million of the 2018 capex budget of $9.4 million.

Mr Chapman expressed the Company’s thanks to outgoing Chief Executive, Mark O’Connor.

Mr O’Connor joined South Port nearly 25 years ago in 1993, initially as Finance Manager. In the lead up to the Company’s stock exchange listing in July 1994, he was appointed Company Secretary and was involved in much of the background work prior to that listing. Five years later he was appointed to the CEO role.

During his 25 years, Mr O’Connor has served under three Chairmen, Rex Powley, John Harrington and Rex Chapman.

"He has overseen the early transformation in the Company’s business with a successful refocus on the core port activities and achieving solid growth in the operation," said Mr Chapman.

He established the MSC International Container Service at Bluff and has grown container and other cargo handling capabilities together with warehousing facilities both on-port and now in Invercargill.

Since 2000, South Port’s revenue has increased by approximately 300%, tax paid profit has increased by over 400% and cargo volumes have increased by 60%.

"This is impressive growth for a small regional port. He has, in my view, set the standard for the others that will follow him and he has left a lasting legacy in his record of achievement at South Port."

The share price when Mr O’Connor was appointed was $0.86; the current share price is $6.20, a 720% increase. The total return to shareholders since listing has been $222 million.

There were over 40 applicants for the South Port CEO’s position from both New Zealand and offshore. From a shortlist of very strong candidates, Mr Gear was successful and took over as from 1 October. Mr Gear has been with South Port for 23 years in a variety of roles.

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| A Southport release  ||  October 26,  2017   |||

26 Oct:  As China's Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group eyes up a possible expansion into Australia, its New Zealand operation is picking up steam with plans to build a state-of-the-art laboratory and to invest at least another $200 million.

Oceania Dairy - the South Canterbury-based dairy company owned by Yili - is in the process of commissioning the second stage of its development, which includes a canning and blending operation for infant formula and two UHT manufacturing lines, general manager Roger Usmar told BusinessDesk. The first stage involved 10-tonne an hour infant formula capable dryer. Total investment so far is around $400 million.

The third stage of development will likely include a second, larger dryer and a lactoferrin plant, although the dryer's size hasn't been determined, said Usmar. Meanwhile "we arguably have a stage two-B and we are working through the approval process," he said. Oceania has a small onsite laboratory for testing but expects to commence construction of a far larger laboratory to support the operation by mid-2018, he said.

Continue here to read the full release from BusinessDesk   ||  October 26,  2017   |||

26 Oct: Avocado grower and Avocado Growers Association Representative Tony Ponder has been elected as the new NZAGA & AIC Chair.  "It’s an exciting time to be in the New Zealand avocado industry, with an incredible increase in industry value and the positive collaboration throughout the industry”, says Ponder.

Tony has replaced Ashby Whitehead who stepped down as Chair at the Annual General Meeting in August. Ashby served as Chair since 2013 and as a Representative on the NZAGA Executive and AIC Ltd Board since 2006.

“I acknowledge the leadership provided by the previous Chair, Ashby Whitehead, which has resulted in tremendous progress and positioned the industry well for future growth.”

Tony has been one of the eight grower-elected directors on the NZAGA & AIC Board since 2005.

Tony and his wife Nicky have an 11 hectare avocado orchard investment in the Coromandel district, and more recently have purchased a 26-hectare property in Tauranga with existing avocado, berry and kiwifruit. Tony also has commercial kiwifruit interests acting as an independent director for a large family based avocado & kiwifruit orchard and packing company in the Bay of Plenty.

Tony’s day to day responsibilities include Director & Chief Executive Officer of avocado, berry and kiwifruit exporter Southern Produce Limited. In this role, Tony is involved in the strategic oversight of the groups export and domestic business including the Avoco/Avanza joint venture with Primor Produce and Team Avocado. Tony is a director of several related collaborations and joint venture entities associated with avocado trading and investment.

“The New Zealand avocado industry is experiencing a period of impressive growth – a huge part of that being due to the work being undertaken to achieve Primary Growth Partnership Go Global goal of quadrupling sales and trebling productivity by 2023”, says Ponder.

NZAGA Grower Representative Linda Flegg has been elected as the Vice Chair of the NZAGA. Linda was elected to the Board in 2016 and is the At Large region grower representative. Linda is an avocado grower on the Kauri Point Peninsular in Bay of Plenty and has been in and around avocados her whole life. Linda, along with her family, run their avocado and kiwifruit orchard businesses in Katikati.

| An NZAA release  ||  October 20,  2017   |||

25 Oct:  Tech advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) might help New Zealand move toward a solution for helping feed the world which will require food production to double to meet a growing population demands, says a Kiwi tech expert. New Zealand IoT Alliance executive director Kriv Naicker says the new government needs to support the tech industry, in particular the NZ IoT Alliance and its sister organisation the New Zealand AI Forum to help address a growing food shortage. “Farmers’ uptake of technology is becoming the norm in the rural sector. Smart farming and precision agriculture is helping farmers get better results on the land with enhanced tech forecasting and IoT sensor data collection and analytics, optimising resources and supplies,” Naicker says. “We know the world is heading toward a major food supply crisis. By 2050, the planet’s human population will reach beyond nine billion, requiring food production to double to meet demands. “Agriculture has long been considered the backbone of New Zealand and with timely help from the tech sector, the country faces an exciting challenge and opportunity to create sustainable economic growth and establish ourselves on the world stage. “The future of food and the alternative ways to feed a growing global population will be discussed at a plant-based conference in Christchurch in early December. Key key tech leaders will attend the Feed the World 2030: Power of Plants Hackathon event on December 2 and 3. This will provide an opportunity for agritech food innovators, scientists, industry experts and tech entrepreneurs to begin shaping New Zealand’s agricultural platforms for the future. “We have seen movie produces James Cameron and Sir Peter Jackson enter the food supply arena by creating a Future Foods project, looking at plant-based protein.” “How much will these guys leverage IoT and AI to drive cutting-edge innovation in this sector? Both Sir Peter and Cameron have identified the huge potential in this area and will need to leverage significant IoT and AI to achieve farmer to plate innovation.“Digital agriculture, in the form of precision farming, big data, sensor technology and drones, delivers a new potential for productivity gains across rural New Zealand.

“Tech promises to cut costs and enable faster repayment of both irrigation scheme and farm infrastructure capital, while allowing farmers to demonstrate their compliance with environmental and other regulatory requirements,” Naicker says. NZTech’s Digital Nation report last year showed that the tech sector was worth more than $16 billion to the economy.

| A MakeLemonade release  ||  October 24,  2017   |||

25 Oct:  New opportunities aimed at improving access to employment in the primary sector will be considered for incorporation into Matariki – Hawke's Bay's Regional Economic Development Strategy and Action Plan.  The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has been leading work in Hawke's Bay aimed at increasing the uptake of employment in primary industries, one of the region's largest sectors. The work is part of the Regional Growth Programme.

"Hawke's Bay has over 25% of its workforce employed in primary industries. There's a growing need to attract more locals into primary sector to meet current and future growth," says Ben Dalton, Head of the Regional Growth Programme at MPI. "Increased economic growth will come from the primary sector and it's estimated there will be between 3,000 and 4,400 new primary industries jobs by 2025 in the region."

MPI, as an action point under Matariki, canvassed a group of Hawke's Bay stakeholders about the feasibility of setting up a local joint venture primary industries training hub, however, locals interviewed felt there was no need to progress this. Instead, stakeholders provided MPI with potential opportunities aimed at improving the consistency and quality of local training in the region.

The opportunities include an increased focus on horticulture, viticulture and forestry, meeting specific workforce needs such as trained seasonal workers and supplying management, supervisors and logistics roles in the pipfruit industry. Stakeholders also asked for more collaboration between industry and tertiary training and an increased focus on skills gaps such as driver's licenses, literacy and numeracy, and improvements to the quality of training.

Immediate actions for MPI are to continue growing awareness of primary sector employment opportunities amongst young people, bringing together the local forestry sector to discuss recruiting and retaining trainees, and continuing work with local iwi and stakeholders to extend primary sector employment to at-risk young people through Youth Employment Pathways. The Youth Employment Pathways programme supports young people, at risk of long-term unemployment, into sustainable work.

The opportunities will be considered for inclusion in the refreshed action plan.

The Regional Growth Programme is an across government initiative co-led by the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) which aims to increase jobs, income and investment in regional New Zealand.

A further break-down of recommendations can be found in the report, Investigation into the feasibility of a joint venture primary industry training hub in the Hawke's Bay.

| An MPI release  ||  October 25,  2017   |||