Editorial: Diversifying on big income earners

A prescription injector for the Ozempic weight loss drug in Portland, Maine. Photo / Ryan David Brown,The New York Times

As New Zealand faces economic head winds, one thing that hasn’t changed is our profile as a largely commodities’ exporting country focused mainly on one big market.

Just swap out Britain (36 per cent in 1970) for China now (28 per cent) as the destination for a lot of our goods.

If only we had a few more specialty, non-primary, products that only we were providing that people everywhere wanted.

That’s the situation Denmark has now found itself in.

A country with a similar-sized population to ours, Denmark is riding the wave of popularity for two medical drugs.

Its company Novo Nordisk, for years the maker of medicines for people with diabetes, now overshadows the Danish economy, because of the success of Ozempic and Wegovy.

These two drugs have been found to help people struggling with obesity to lose weight.

Consider how many people in the world fit into that category, and how being overweight is a factor in many serious medical problems, and how much money goes into treating those conditions.

Widespread use of such drugs could become an essential part of preventing major health problems from developing.

As with anything, whether it be in business, technology, politics, or art, hitting on the big picture idea comes first. Talent, investment, research and development infrastructure, are important to making it become reality.

Having those foundations here and supported are necessary for future success even as the country goes through short-term belt-tightening during economic hard times.