Best and the brightest making their mark

Top exporting companies, with wares ranging from Ugg boots to vegetable polishers, are competing for export awards next month.

The winners of the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise awards will be announced in Christchurch on August 11.

The 21 finalists, ranging from from small entrepreneurial companies to those earning more than $200 million a year, are contesting eight sector-based awards.

Trade and Enterprise chief executive Tim Gibson said export success was critical to lifting New Zealand into the top half of the OECD rankings.

"The finalists are also helping to build a culture of business enterprise in New Zealand, and helping to position New Zealand as a source of innovation," he said.

Last year's supreme export award winner was the country's largest coal producer, Solid Energy New Zealand, which earned $180 million in foreign exchange in 2003.

Among this year's finalists:

Ugg boot maker Canterbury Leather International, vodka maker 42 Below, bee products company Comvita, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Fletcher Construction's South Pacific Division, Les Mills International, New Zealand King Salmon, online retailer New Zealand Nature, Nobilo Wines, Auckland University, marketing group CMS Alphatech, and software development company Interactive Technologies.