Units in the Fonterra Shareholders' Fund fell to their lowest point since listing on the NZX in 2012 on the back of growing farmer and investor unrest.

Dairy product prices declined in the latest GlobalDairyTrade auction, led by a slump in prices for butter milk powder and whole milk powder.

Our efforts to minimise our impact aren't enough for some. Now there must be no expansion and there are calls to move the port, somewhere, anywhere, writes Tony Gibson.

Expectations that a higher dividend from Fonterra would at least partly offset a low milk price went by the wayside yesterday when the co-operative lowered its dividend forecast range.

The trade deficit widened to $2.2 billion in the year ended February, the biggest it has been since August 2009.

The dairy industry can weather the prospect of increased production from the EU once quotas are lifted on April 1, says the chief executive of the farmer-funded DairyNZ.

Export log prices dropped for the first time in eight months as shipments to China, the nation's largest market, exceeded demand.

The majority of Auckland councillors now want a rethink on the controversial proposed expansion of the port.

The protest was sparked by port company plans to begin building two massive extensions and Auckland Council voting to ease rules for further reclamation.

Trade Minister Tim Groser will today seal a free trade deal with South Korea that will essentially steer NZ towards a level playing field with its competitors.

About 2000 people and more than a hundred boats gathered today to protest plans by Ports of Auckland to reclaim more of Waitemata Harbour.

Auckland's Waitemata Harbour has been "turned from a harbour into a river", by Ports of Auckland expansion, yachting great Chris Dickson says.

Prominent business leaders, sailors, architects, musicians have signed an open letter demanding that Ports of Auckland 'stop stealing our harbour'.

Population growth, boosted by a record net migration gain, explains about half of the strong economic growth recorded last year.

NZ and the US have escalated a complaint against Indonesia to the World Trade Organisation on import restrictions.

International dairy prices fell by 8.8 per cent at this morning's GlobalDairyTrade auction - the first sale to be held since the 1080 infant formula scare.

Fallout from this week's baby formula contamination threat weighed heavily on the New Zealand dollar yesterday, with news of curtailed orders from China driving the currency lower still.

The Government was right to say nothing until discreet inquiries had failed and there is a chance a public appeal might help police catch him. The interval appears to have permitted the industry to be well prepared.

Dairy exports may already be stuck on Chinese wharves as a result of a new import requirement that products be tested for 1080 contamination, says an industry group.

Solid Energy says it is solvent, but only just, and will need a new deal from its bankers to survive.

China's decision to lower its annual GDP growth target to around 7 per cent should not have a significant impact on demand for New Zealand commodities, HSBC's chief economist for Australia and New....

The rise of the Chinese economy over the past 20 years has been transformational for New Zealand, writes Bernard Doyle.

Dairy product prices rose in the latest overnight GlobalDairyTrade auction.

Resolution of industrial action at ports along the West Coast of the United States has come as a relief to New Zealand meat producers who have been shut off from a lucrative market.

New Zealand's export dollar does not stretch as far as it did, after the terms of trade fell 1.9 per cent in the last three months of 2014.