China still burns brightly for NZ agribusiness
“China is far from finished as a key driver of growth for the New Zealand agribusiness sector,” says Hayden Dillon, Head of Corporate Agribusiness for Crowe Horwath. Despite recent negative market commentary coming out of China, Dillon, who recently toured our largest trading partner with the BNZ’s Port to Plate tour, was optimistic for the future of New Zealand agribusiness, while acknowledging the challenges that go with doing business in China. “China is large, complex and changing faster than we can possibly understand. There is no simple headline or strategy to sum up this market, but there is also no doubt it is still the most valuable opportunity to New Zealand agribusiness,” said Dillon. In reference to reported drops in Chinese import numbers, Dillon points out it’s important to read between the lines and focus on the key numbers for New Zealand exporters. “While Chinese imports did drop year-on-year to August 2015 by 13.8%, food imports grew by up to 25%. This might be bad news for the likes of Prada, Audi and other luxury brands, but the story for New Zealand, who is exporting food and food technology, is very strong,” said Dillon. Dillon does not see this trend of rising food imports changing anytime soon. “It’s about feeding the dragon. China has a rapidly growing population with rising incomes and is far from reaching its satisfaction point in regards to food demand,” he said. The changing diets in China were explained to Dillon and his tour party of New Zealand agribusiness specialists by the Agricultural Development Bank of China. The Bank indicated growing demand for edible oil, meat and dairy will continue to increase, while rice consumption per capita will decrease. Dillon notes that China is also beginning to see demand increase for what it calls “green” products, […]
