Dairy co-op Fonterra said its organic milk business will expand to the South Island, citing strong demand from global customers for organic product. Fonterra Farm Source group director Anne Douglas said the aim was to recruit organic supply for processing at the co-op’s Stirling plant near Balclutha. “Our plan is to be able to process organic dairy products at our Stirling site from the 2028/29 season, with the recruitment process starting now to allow time for converting farmers to achieve organic certification,” she said. Fonterra said it has more than 100 farms in the North Island supplying organic milk to plants at Hautapu, Morrinsville and Waitoa. An organic milk price was introduced in 2016, delivering an average premium of $2 a kg of milk solids. The co-op said it would need to recruit a minimum organic supply before starting work on segregating milk processing at Stirling.
Thursday January 22
Genesis upgrades profit outlook
Electricity generator and retailer Genesis Energy has increased its profit guidance for the year to June citing higher margins and record low thermal generation in the first half. In a statement to the NZX, Genesis said it expected earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and financial instruments of $490-$520 million this year, up from previous guidance provided in November of $455-$485m. The company said the upgrade was “driven primarily by margin quality through optimising Genesis’s flexibility”. Genesis said thermal generation for the first half was a record low of 869GWh, allowing surplus gas to be sold to industrial customers. Hydro generation was up 21GWh to 740GWh in the half because of good rainfall. In its performance update, Genesis said its retail electricity prices were $336/MWh in the year to date, up from $295/MWh in the same period a year earlier. Retail gas prices rose to $58.9/GJ from $48.8/GJ.
Net migration struggles to recover, as more tourists arrive
Annual net migration continues to be subdued, as Kiwis leave for better pay and opportunities overseas. Statistics NZ data today showed the country recorded a net gain of 10,700 people in the year ended November last year, compared with 29,000 in 2024. The latest figures included a net gain of 51,400 non-New Zealanders arriving and a net loss of 40,800 New Zealand citizens heading overseas. In November alone, the country recorded a net migration gain of 900 people in 2025, compared with a gain of 600 in 2024. New Zealand continues to attract growing numbers of short-term holiday makers, with 347,600 arrivals in November, an increase of 26,400 from the same month in 2024. More Aussies chose to holiday in New Zealand, along with more tourists from China, the United States, and Canada. The total number of overseas visitor arrivals was 93% of the 372,100 in November 2019, before the Covid pandemic.
Govt proposes further cuts to ETS costs for forest owners
The Coalition Government is making another cut to the costs forestry owners face in the Emissions Trading Scheme. Forestry Minister Todd McClay said today the annual charge for post-1989 forest land would reduce from $14.90 to $10.25 per hectare per year. “The last Labour Government wanted forest owners to pay an excessive $30.25 per hectare per year, forcing the sector to take legal action. We’re lowering that for a second time,” McClay said. He said it represented a 66% cut in annual charges since the coalition took office. The Government is consulting on the cut, as well as changes to other fees forest owners face, but the new settings are expected to come into effect from the middle of this year.
Friday January 23
Government finances in better shape than expected
The Government’s books for the first five months of the financial year are looking better than forecast in the December half-year update. The operating balance before gains and losses and excluding ACC (Obegalx) recorded a deficit of $5.6 billion in the five months to the end of November, $1.1b less than the forecast deficit. The operating balance recorded a surplus of $3.5b, compared with an expected $200 million deficit. That was driven by the better-than-expected Obegalx deficit, net gains on financial and non-financial instruments, and stronger results from State-owned Enterprises and Crown entities. Net core Crown debt was $900m lower than forecast at $183.1b, or 41.6% of GDP. While tax revenue was down slightly on expectations, spending was down even more.
Kinetic lands $100m Dunedin bus contract
Kinetic, the country's largest provider of public roading transport, will expand its electric bus fleet in Dunedin after landing a contract with the Otago Regional Council for 37 new buses.
The US-owned private equity-owned company currently operates 13 EV buses for Orbus, under its Go Bus brand. The nine-year contract, which will expand its on-road presence by about 10% to almost 400 EV vehicles, will commence in October, it said.
The operator has about 1500 battery-powered buses across its fleet of 12,000 buses in NZ, Australia, Singapore, and the UK.
For the past year to June, the company's New Zealand after-tax earnings were $10.2 million, on revenues of $604.5m. Its biggest customer is Auckland Transport, for which it operates 657 vehicles, more than half its public transport fleet.
National’s Maureen Pugh to quit politics at this year’s election
National’s West Coast-Tasman MP Maureen Pugh is the latest politician to announce her retirement from politics.
Pugh first came into Parliament as a list MP in 2015 but lost her position in the 2017 election. She then came back as a list MP in March of 2018 before winning her electorate seat in 2023. She said it was time for her to rest a little and spend more time with her family.
But Pugh said she was looking forward to continuing in her role as Assistant Speaker for the rest of the year and would work hard to ensure a National-led Government was re-elected on November 7.
