By Gavin Evans May 20 (BusinessDesk) - Scales Corp says full-year operating earnings from its reshaped business may rise as much as 13 percent. The agri-business, which last year sold its cold stores and liquid storage operation to expand its petfood interests, expects unde...

By Rebecca Howard May 16 (BusinessDesk) - Synlait Milk said the registration process required to launch Munchkin Inc’s Grass Fed infant formula in the US has been put on hold to allow the company to look at other options.  Synlait "has been informed that the clinical study...

By Rebecca Howard May 16 (BusinessDesk) -  With just over a fortnight to go, the country's current milk season looks to have been a good - but not stellar - year for processors as dry weather at the tail end crimped production.  Production was initially very strong on the b...

By Gavin Evans May 14 (BusinessDesk) - Rural Equities, the farming group majority-owned by the Cushing family, has agreed to sell its second-largest property as it rejigs its portfolio. Puketotara, a beef and sheep finishing operation near Huntly, covers 1,146 hectares and...

(Updates to add CEO comment throughout, comment from New Zealand First)  By Rebecca Howard May 13 (BusinessDesk) - Global ice cream company Froneri has bought Fonterra Cooperative Group's Tip Top for $380 million, ending a six-month sale process.  The price was about $10...

By Jenny Ruth May 13 (BusinessDesk) - Synlait Milk has landed itself in a right pickle after a Court of Appeal judgment that renders its new Pokeno factory in breach of covenants restricting use of that land to grazing, lifestyle farming and forestry. Synlait jumped the gun...

(Updates throughout to add further comments from Synlait and from the Court of Appeal judgment.) By Jenny Ruth May 10 (BusinessDesk) - Synlait Milk says it is confident it can find a solution to the ownership problem now afflicting most of the land on which its new Pokeno f...

By Gavin Evans May 10 (BusinessDesk) - OceanaGold has sought a mining permit over its Wharekirauponga discovery in the Coromandel Forest Park. The deposit lies in the northern part of the 3,762 square-kilometre Hauraki exploration permit the company and its predecessors hav...

By Gavin Evans May 10 (BusinessDesk) - Kiwifruit grower and marketer Seeka has cut its full-year earnings guidance by $4 million due to reduced harvests in both New Zealand and Australia. Group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation are likely to range...

By Pattrick Smellie May 9 (BusinessDesk) - Global demand for New Zealand's meat and dairy products is under threat as the world responds to climate change by eating more and more plant-based protein, Hollywood filmmaker James Cameron told the government's Just Transitions conf...

By Gavin Evans May 8 (BusinessDesk) - Expansion of gold mining at Waihi is inherently unsustainable, will increase emissions, and will provide only moderate employment benefits relative to winding down the operation and remediating the site, Land Information Minister Eugenie S...

By Pattrick Smellie May 8 (BusinessDesk) - Reactions to the net zero carbon emissions legislation released today range from Greenpeace attacking it as "toothless" and "miserly" to Federated Farmers calling it "frustratingly cruel". Two key issues are at the heart of those a...

By Pattrick Smellie May 8 (BusinessDesk) - After months of cross-parliamentary wrangling, the government this morning unveiled its long-awaited draft legislation that will guide New Zealand to its target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The Climate Change Respo...

By Margreet Dietz May 8 (BusinessDesk) - Dairy product prices inched higher at the Global Dairy Trade auction, rising for the eleventh straight time, even as whole milk powder posted a third consecutive decline.  The GDT price index gained 0.4 percent from the previous auct...

By Rebecca Howard May 7 (BusinessDesk) - Fonterra Cooperative Group will still be exposed to its former Chinese partner Beingmate Baby & Child Food Co, albeit one step removed, in a new supply deal with Bubs Australia.  Fonterra Australia will supply Bubs with organic milk...

By Gavin Evans May 3 (BusinessDesk) - Miner OceanaGold has had its bid to buy land for a new tailings dam near its Waihi mine turned down by the government. The ASX-listed firm, New Zealand’s biggest gold miner, is mostly owned by US and UK investors and needed Overseas Inv...

(Updates with comment from Mark Hiddleston from 12th par) By Jenny Ruth May 3 (BusinessDesk) - ANZ Bank has warned its farming customers they face higher borrowing costs almost immediately due to Reserve Bank intervention, even though wholesale interest rates have been fall...

By Rebecca Howard May 2 (BusinessDesk) - Red meat cooperative Alliance Group said meat prices are strong as the African swine fever outbreak decimates Chinese pork production. Chief executive David Surveyor says meat prices are "generally quite solid at the moment" due to t...

By Paul McBeth May 2 (BusinessDesk) - The Woolworths-owned Countdown supermarket chain lifted sales 3.2 percent in the March quarter, which the retailer put down to growth in fruit, vegetables and perishables.  Sales across the 180 Countdown stores were $1.69 billion in the...