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South Port well positioned for dairy development

A trade-off between economic growth and environmental sustainability will be needed if expansion of the dairy industry is to have an acceptable outcome, South Port chairman John Harrington says.That presented a huge challenge to all involved but it must b

NZPA
Thu, 30 Sep 2010

A trade-off between economic growth and environmental sustainability will be needed if expansion of the dairy industry is to have an acceptable outcome, South Port chairman John Harrington says.

That presented a huge challenge to all involved but it must be worked through
if the New Zealand economy was to improve, he told the company's annual meeting in Bluff today.

The matter was more important now the Government had decided not to extract minerals in conservation areas, effectively ruling out a source of wealth for the nation.

"Dairying has the ability to give New Zealand access to the newly wealthy markets of the developing world and the potential to double in Southland from the existing number of 155,000 cows," Mr Harrington said.

"Many are of the opinion that dairying saved the country during the worst global recession for 80 years."

Agriculture was a realistic way forward, and South Port was well positioned to take advantage of any development of dairying.

In the year to June the company reported cargo volumes up 14 percent or 306,000 tonnes from the year before, mainly due to increases in the forestry sector and New Zealand Aluminium Smelters cargo.

Containerised cargo lifted 21 percent to 29,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) for the year, with revenue up to $22.9 million from $20.1m, and pre-tax trading profit up to $7.5m from $5.7m the year before.

Today Mr Harrington said demand for forestry, dairy products and other agricultural products remained relatively strong.

Southland and South Port could also benefit from a forecast doubling in global demand for seafood, and the port company was well aware of the potential in oil and gas exploration, the development of lignite resources, coal seam gas and wind-farming.

A coal-to-fertiliser project could produce 1.25m tonnes of urea annually, of which 750,000 tonnes may be exported.

NZPA
Thu, 30 Sep 2010
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South Port well positioned for dairy development
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