Business Opportunities in New Zealand

New Zealand offers the ease of an English-speaking culture, a stable democracy, rule of law, a transparent market, and business practices similar to those in the United States. The foundation of New Zealand?s economy is exporting agricultural products such as dairy products, meat, forest products, fruit and vegetables, and wine. High international commodity prices, particularly for protein, will continue to help New Zealand?s economy through 2014 farm exports are forecast to experience a brief, substantial dip in 2014 as the 2012/2013 summer drought takes effect, but the economy will recover strongly. Domestically, the Canterbury rebuild is expected to remain the core driver of growth in 2014. The New Zealand Treasury estimates the damage from the Christchurch earthquakes at around NZ$40 billion, much of which is covered by private insurance (reinsured through overseas insurance companies). Housing prices in Auckland have risen by 15% since 2007, and in Canterbury by 7% over the same period, creating an upsurge in residential construction and investment. In January 2014, consumer confidence reached 135.8 points, its highest level since before the recession (January 2007). Opportunities exist for American technologies and products that reduce cost, increase productivity, and wring more value from supply chains. In addition, a continuous drive to remain globally-competitive with a relatively small manufacturing sector should drive prospects for productivity-enhancing products such as information technology and manufactured goods. In 2010, the United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam began negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a regional Asia-Pacific trade agreement, with the objective of shaping a high-standard, broad-based regional agreement. In 2010, Mexico and Canada both successfully negotiated to became TPP members, and Japan became a member in July 2013. In late 2013 Taiwan and South Korea both announced their interest in joining the negotiations. The TPP agreement will create a potential platform for economic integration across the Asia-Pacific region, and a means to advance U. S. economic interests with the fastest-growing economies in the world.