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Nearly 90 percent of exporters reported higher costs in a new survey. File photo. Photo: 123rf New Zealand exporters are more upbeat about their prospects in the coming year, but continue to be beset by higher costs and market disruptions. The latest ExportNZ-DHL export barometer shows expectations of improved exports next year have risen to 58 percent of respondents, from 42 percent in last year's survey. But that has been tempered by nearly 90 percent reporting higher costs, with 55 percent facing supply chain and logistics issues, the high cost of doing business in New Zealand, and the value of the NZ dollar. DHL NZ vice president Selina Deadman said costs have risen by up to 49 percent for the vast majority of local exporters, but firms were looking for new ways to do business and i...

An award for "greenwashing excellence" was given to carbon neutral company Wright Communications, which works for Z Energy and Toyota. File photo. Photo: RNZ A certified carbon neutral PR company has been put on global "F List" for its work promoting fossil fuels through clients at Z Energy and Toyota. The F list is list of PR and advertising companies working for fossil fuel companies. It has been put together since 2021 by Comms Declare and Clean Creatives, two groups of ad and PR professionals trying to get agencies to cut ties with fossil fuel companies. So far the groups say 1000 agencies have signed up to swear off working with fossil fuel clients. This is the first time New Zealand companies have been on the list, with 14 New Zealand advertising agencies identified as having rece...

By Luc Cohen, Reuters Caroline Ellison, centre, arrives at court in New York for Sam Bankman-Fried's criminal trial in this file photo from 11 October 2023. Photo: JOHN NACION / AFP Former cryptocurrency executive Caroline Ellison was sentenced to two years in prison for her role in her former boyfriend Sam Bankman-Fried's theft of US$8 billion (NZ$12.5b) in customer funds from the now-bankrupt FTX exchange he founded, even as the judge recognized her extensive cooperation with prosecutors. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan said at a sentencing hearing in Manhattan federal court that he was not comfortable with remorse and cooperation being a "get out of jail free card" in a case so serious. Prosecutors have called Bankman-Fried's actions one of the biggest financial frauds in US histor...

Bendigo winegrower and Sustainable Tarras spokesperson Rob van der Mark said the local community was worried about the potential rapid industrialisation of their iconic landscapes. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton Central Otago locals are worried a proposed gold mine will hit industry and devastate the special - and spectacular - natural environment. Santana Minerals believes the hills between Bendigo and Ophir could hold $4.4 billion worth of gold, and started hosting community drop-in sessions this week. The company hopes to submit a fast track application in February if the new law passes, and offer 250 full time jobs living in the surrounding communities. A dirt road winds its way up the hills in Bendigo towards The Canyon at Tarras Vineyards, overlooking vineyards, farmland, the Clutha Ri...

A Climate Change Commission suggestion that new homes should not connect to the gas network was rejected by the industry. Photo: 123RF The New Zealand gas industry went to an international fossil fuel forum and claimed responsibility for killing off a proposed government ban on new gas connections. Gas NZ presented its success as a model for avoiding regulation for others in the fossil gas industry. The body's presentation to the World LPG Association says it achieved its goal of stopping what it called the "existential threat" posed by a draft suggestion from the Climate Change Commission that new homes should not connect to the gas network, to avoid locking their owners in to rising energy bills. "The immediate challenge was having the sections recommending an end-date for connections...

After record numbers of migrants in the past few years, many are now finding it difficult to find work. File photo. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi Many migrants who arrived here during the immigration boom of recent years are now struggling to find work. The country gained a record 136,000 new residents in the year ending October 2023 But many of those people - including those whose ability to stay in the country is tied to their employment - have been victims of a softening labour market. First Union general secretary Dennis Maga said about 25 percent of migrant union members had been affected. Some were being sent back home on furlough arrangements, he said. "They are still employed, but the company pays them $100 a month on furlough and will bring them back to New Zealand once construct...