Best of Business

Fonterra's revised forecast for the 2022/23 shows a worrying outlook for the dairy industry. The milk giant has revised down its farmgate price to between $8.00 and $8.60 per kg of milk solids. It's a sharp drop from the record payout of $9.30 last season. Head of Insight at NZX Limited and dairy sector expert Julia Jones joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy...

A belief the Government's moves to ensure transparency within the lobbying sector is perfunctory. The Prime Minister's giving support to third-party lobbyists to establish a voluntary code of conduct. Private-sector and union reps are losing swipe-card access to Parliament. The Cabinet Manual will be updated, to clarify expectations for Ministers' conduct when choosing future employment. Lobbyist...

Since the news of Fonterra recording a 50 percent increase in record profits, it has now cut its season forecast milk payment to farmers. The forecasted payments have lowered to a range of $8.00 to $8.60 per kg of milk solids, reducing the midpoint of the range by 20 cents from $8.50 to $8.30 per kg. They are putting the blame on global demand from China weakening. Dairy NZ chief executive Tim Mac...

The company formerly known as Vodafone celebrated their first day of trading as One NZ. To mark the occasion, One NZ has also unveiled details of a new partnership with Elon Musk-owned Starlink to provide 100 percent mobile coverage to New Zealand. One NZ CEO Jason Paris says this partnership will be rolled out some time in 2024, starting as a text service with voice and data capability to follow....

Queenstown renters are so desperate for housing they're asking real estate agents to rent out empty houses on the market. Tall Poppy Real Estate Queenstown owner Keeley Anderson says she's getting daily calls from people searching. It comes after a protest of around 100 people earlier this week over the resort town's rental crisis. Keeley Anderson joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudi...

A construction expert believes the second Auckland Harbour crossing will become a political football. The Government has brought forward construction for a second Waitematā   Harbour crossing to 2029. Its offered five options that all include walking, cycling and road options plus light rail connections to the city centre. AUT Construction Management Professor John Tookey told Kate Hawkesby betwee...

The cost of living crisis has hit many New Zealanders hard, but some help is on the way. From the beginning of April, increases to the pension, benefit, student allowance and childcare subsidies will benefit 1.4 million Kiwis. At the same time, the minimum wage will also increase by $1.50 to $22.70 per hour. Hospitality NZ CEO Julie White joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to discuss how the increa...

A construction boss says the second Auckland Harbour crossing must be cost effective and a long-term solution. The Government has brought forward construction of a second Waitematā Harbour crossing to 2029. Its offered five options of bridges or tunnels all include cycling, roads, walking and light rail. Naylor Love Chief Executive Rick Herd told Mike Hosking he's delighted to see some action, but...

Several organisations have announced significant job cuts- yet the labour shortage is still alive and well.  Warehouse, Xero, Sky TV, MediaWorks and Auckland Council are among several companies who have confirmed job cuts. Despite this, 90 percent of employers still struggle to find staff. NZ Herald business editor Liam Dann says there's a definite mismatch in the industries cutting staff and indu...

The Government is about to unveil five new options for a second Waitemata Harbour crossing. The Government has announced it's bringing forward construction of the crossing, likely a tunnel, to the 2020s. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will also talk about how the ways they would link up with Auckland Light Rail. Auckland Business Chamber Chief Executive Simon Bridges told Mike Hosking they want to s...

New Zealand King Salmon's profits are going swimmingly after posting their first full-year profit in three years. The company has taken a number of measures to scale back operation costs, including a change to their farming model. Acting CEO Graeme Tregidga joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The pandemic may have played a part in what seems to be soaring labour productivity in New Zealand. Stats NZ data shows in the year ended March 2022, productivity rose 2.2 percent, the fastest rate in over a decade. This comes in a tight labour market with unemployment sitting at 3.4 percent. Iron Duke Partners Managing Director Phil O'Reilly told Mike Hosking the rise may be a flow-on effect of C...

There's a small sense of satisfaction for me as the second quarterly monitoring report from the Commerce Commission came out on the petrol industry. Do you remember the Commerce Commission and the petrol industry? We were being fleeced by them, so a market study was conducted and, for better or worse, nothing really came out of it. There was a little bit of loosening when it came to access at whol...

In 2022, Kiwis spent almost 20 million hours waiting for customer services. With 19.7 million people contacting customer services, that equates to an average of just under 8 hours per person, with many saying that in itself is something to complain about. ServiceNow NZ Country Manager Kate Tulp joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand appears to be edging closer to a recession, with some regions faster than others. BusinessNZ's latest Planning Forecast suggests the country's on track for a mild recession, with interest rates rising and retail sales falling. It says employers are still finding it difficult to fill roles due to the tight labour market. Chief Executive Kirk Hope told Mike Hosking while not all regions...

A message to wine lovers; Hawke's Bay vineyards are bouncing back and open for business. Images of devastated wineries were widely circulated following Cyclone Gabrielle, but six weeks on, the industry is keen to bring back its customers. Hawke's Bay Wine Growers Executive Officer Brent Lynn told Kate Hawkesby good weather over the past few weeks has meant the region is well prepared for the Easte...

Public servants jumping roles may have melted the Government's pay freeze. The policy that was introduced for high-paid public servants during the Covid-19 pandemic has now ended. During the freeze, workers on high salaries could only receive pay rises under "exceptional circumstances". New Zealand Initiative Chief Economist Eric Crampton told Mike Hosking people have been moving to different mini...

An independent economist suggests moving the financial goalposts may help get inflation back on track. The current inflation target is between 1 and 3 percent, but the target band had moved from 0 percent to 2 percent to 0 percent to 3 percent once before in 1996. Independent economist Cameron Bagrie says the debate about shifting the inflation target is likely to be raised as the economic and soc...

Over the next year or so around 60 percent of households will need to refinance their mortgages at higher rates. With 50 percent of the value of existing fixed rate loans due to be repriced, with another 10 percent on floating interest terms. Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Students are calling for more education around the impact of student debt. Student loan living costs have increased by more than $100 a week over the past six years. On Saturday, April 1, that amount will rise by just over $20 to $302 a week. For students borrowing the maximum amount, that's more than $15,000 dollars a year. New Zealand Union of Students' Associations President Ellen Dixon says st...

There are growing concerns ChatGPT is coming for white-collar jobs.  A global equity analyst has warned ChatGPT will take up one third of office roles and upend finance and law professions by 2030. Jarden Global Equity Analyst Ben Stewart says the finance and law professions in particular require training to process data, something ChatGPT has already been taught to do. Ben Stewart notes that tech...

Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has returned from her visit to China. Nanaia Mahuta used her meeting with China's foreign minister to raise concerns about China’s human rights abuses, developments South China Sea, and China's ties to Russia. NZME business commentator Fran O'Sullivan says the machinery of Government on both sides needs to work these discussions through and more information will come...

Amazon Group's Web Services have signed a deal with the Government to supposedly advance our digital transformation. This includes the public service's uptake of cloud services. The agreement formalises an earlier pledge from AWS to give computer cloud training to 100,000 people. Chief executive of NZTech Graeme Muller joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inf...

A wave of Gen Zs and Millennials are setting their sights on cruise ships for their holiday of choice. Flight Centre says bookings for 18 to 30 year olds have more than doubled in under a year. Flight Centre's General Manager of Marketing, Jodie Burnard, says the increasing cost of airfares is part of the reason. Jodie Burnard joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for priv...

Chief economist Paul Conway has issued a warning as the Reserve Bank works to curb inflation. Paul Conway says New Zealand is at risk of a deeper recession if businesses and workers try to counter the effects of inflation through higher wages and profit margins. NZ Herald business editor Liam Dann says if consumers keep spending, it'll get harder to keep inflation under control. LISTEN ABOVE See o...