Browse Data and Analysis

The Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional (HRI) sector is seeing signs of recovery in New Zealand (NZ). However, aches and pains still exist. Meanwhile, NZ continues to recover from a cost-of-living crisis, which sadly caused restaurants to close their doors.

The cotton production forecast for 2024/25 has been revised downward to 5.2 million bales, with the area unchanged at 2 million hectares.

The New Zealand Government is in the final stages of amending its Climate Change Response Act 2002 to remove agriculture activities from the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme.

In 2024, the Pakistan government issued revised Biosafety Rules and Regulations, creating a system to request genetically engineered (GE) commodity imports for food, feed, and processing (FFP). As of mid-October 2024, importers had submitted several applications to import GE soybeans for FFP.

In New Zealand, genetically engineered (GE) products are regulated under the 1996 Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act (HSNO) and administered by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). On October 14, 2023, New Zealand held a general election, which resulted in a change in Government.

New Zealand’s apple-planted area in the 2024/2025 market year (MY) is forecast to increase substantially to 11,100 hectares (ha) from the significant damage to farms due to Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023.

New Zealand fluid milk production is forecasted to be 21.3 million metric tons (MMT) in the 2025 market year (MY).

New Zealand has signed a free-trade deal with the United Arab Emirates - the fastest agreement the country has ever reached. After negotiations began in May, the country's trade negotiators concluded the deal in four months.

U.S. food and agricultural products have continued to prove popular in the New Zealand market. In 2023, the value of these products was a record US$ 9.3 million, US$ 3.4 million of which were consumer-oriented products.

With the outlook for the sugar industry largely unchanged from the previous report, no significant changes are made to the supply and demand tables.

No significant changes were made to the 2024/25 wheat supply and demand forecasts. Wheat imports and exports remain banned. The 2024/25 rice production forecast is unchanged at a record 10 million tons.

FAS/Wellington 2025 market year production forecast would be the highest annual production on record, If realized. In addition, post is forecasting that beef and veal exports in 2025 to also be the highest volume for New Zealand in a single year.