Welcome to the second issue of “Growing With China” – our publication which focuses on the economic relationship between New Zealand and a country which will likely be our most important export destination within 5 – 10 years.

In the March issue we look at the following.

China’s race against time to develop and implement policies aimed at addressing two worsening problems.

-Growing discontent with widening income disparities, pollution, corruption, and migrant worker access to social services.

-Rising costs which are reducing international competitiveness. (Page 1)

In our “Finding Customers and Contacts in China” section we profile World Wide Access which helps NZ companies access China’s millions of on-line shoppers. (Page 5)

We summarise some of the key learnings from a conference in Auckland on March 1 examining branding and channel management issues in China. (Page 6)

Our monthly run-through of data shows China’s growth is slowing but it continues to look like a soft-landing scenario with the best news over the past month being lower than expected inflation which provides scope for easier monetary policy should negative growth shocks occur. (Page

In our “Guest Contributors” section this month we profile GlobalHort. This is an NZ fruit company focussed mainly on Kiwifruit growing and distribution in Shaanxi Province with expanding orchards, contract growers, and the aim of turnover equal to 25% of NZ’s entire annual Kiwifruit production by 2016. (Page 11)

In the “NZ-China Economic Data” section we examine trade data showing China (including Hong Kong) now accounting for 14.3% of export receipts, growth in visitor numbers in the past year of 18.3% compared with 3% from all sources, and net migration gains rising to 5,104 compared with 3,887 a year ago.(Page 12)

In the “Information Snippets” section most space is devoted to examining sentiment following the High Court’s reinterpretation of rules for foreigners buying farmland in New Zealand. For now concern seems contained but potential for NZ to gain a reputation as being unwelcoming to all foreign investors is growing. (Page 14)

Feedback is welcome and necessary to guide the shape of GWC in future issues so please feel free to email me your thoughts and experiences with China at tony.alexander@bnz.co.nz

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