10 articles
The Government will direct $5 million from the International Visitor Levy into one-off marketing and business events programmes for the 2026/27 year to accelerate tourism's return toward pre-pandemic levels.
The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research states that the free trade agreement with India functions primarily as strategic positioning in a fragmented global economy rather than an immediate export booster.
New Zealand forestry exports totalled $6.28 billion in the year ended December 2025, forming the starting point for a government target to double primary sector export value within a decade at a required 7.2 percent compound annual growth rate.
The government is investing $59 million across six projects under the Primary Sector Growth Fund, leveraging $84 million in private contributions for a total $143 million package announced at Fieldays.
The US Trade Representative has proposed 12.5 percent additional tariffs on all New Zealand goods, layered on the existing 10 percent blanket rate, because New Zealand has failed to ban imports of products made with forced labour.
Budget 2026 confirms $4.77 billion in baseline funding over four years for the Ministry for Primary Industries. The allocation supports New Zealand's food and fibre sector as exports head for a record $62 billion this year.
New Zealand's integrated fibre industry reached more than $926 million at the farm gate in the first comprehensive assessment of wool, harakeke, hemp, hides, mohair and biomaterials.
The Meat Industry Association has appointed Nick Beeby as chief executive effective 1 July 2026. Beeby succeeds Sirma Karapeeva and takes the role at a time when New Zealand red meat and fifth-quarter exports reached a record $11.7 billion in calendar 2025.
Kotahi's 4,000 TEU of dairy, meat and horticulture cargo stranded by the Strait of Hormuz closure shows how New Zealand's geography converts geopolitical shocks into sustained higher costs for primary exporters.
New Zealand's foreign investment screening regime changed materially on 6 March 2026, when the Overseas Investment (National Interest Test and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2025 took effect, replacing the previous benefit-to-New-Zealand test with a single, risk-based national interest test for most transactions.
