NZ exporters will have better access to up to more than $2 trillion worth of government contracts, with a trade deal signed two years ago expected to come into force soon.

Trade Minister Tim Groser says he has concerns that New Zealand's market access for its dairy products under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) could be sewn up in private talks.

Twenty years ago, the prospect of irradiated fruit and vegetables from Australia going on sale here would have attracted strong opposition.

NZ's monthly trade deficit has widened more than expected as falling prices for logs and dairy products weighed on exports.

A long-awaited free trade agreement between New Zealand and South Korea appears close to being inked following talks in Seoul last week.

The Prime Minister has finally acknowledged the political reality that there are limits to growth as his Government takes a tentative step towards ensuring dairy effluent doesn't continue to despoil our major waterways.

Two-way trade with China has doubled every five years since the early 1990s but the historic growth rates may not continue.

Kiwi companies are increasingly turning to trade fairs in China as a gateway to the international and Chinese market.

Ngai Tahu Holdings is looking for large investment opportunities around the country to broaden its business after making a record profit.

Agri-tech company Tru-Test Corporation has completed a $10 million share buyback while the stake of major shareholder KTT has been boosted from 21.7 per cent to 39.6 per cent.

Hopes of a more stable world dairy market were dashed yesterday when GlobalDairyTrade auction prices resumed their downward slide.

World prices for a basket of New Zealand's export commodities fell 1.3 per cent last month, with dairy products once more leading the decline.

New Zealand commodity prices fell for a seventh consecutive month to an 18-month low in September, led by declining dairy prices.

The NZ dollar edged up following its dramatic slump yesterday after the Reserve Bank confirmed speculation it intervened in the currency market.

The New Zealand dollar dropped against the greenback yesterday afternoon after the Reserve Bank released data which confirmed that it had put its money where its mouth was last month, selling $521 million in a bid to push the exchange rate lower.

The New Zealand dollar could fall significantly over the next six to nine months and the Reserve Bank would welcome that, says Governor Graeme Wheeler.

Last month's trade deficit was an unexpectedly small $472 million as imports exceeded exports by 13 per cent.

New Zealand posted a narrower trade deficit in August as exports of live animals and dairy products rise and imports from major trading partners declined.

Single desk seller Zespri says the kiwifruit industry is looking like putting on a growth spurt after the Psa virus cut a swathe through the country's most productive areas from 2010 through to 2013.

The gap between what New Zealand earns from the rest of the world through trade and investment and what it pays widened in the June quarter as falling dairy exports started to weigh on the trade balance.

NZ's current account deficit rose by $1.4b in the past three months reflecting falling dairy prices and a large revision to investment flows into the country.

Former Fonterra boss Andrew Ferrier has been appointed chairman of New Zealand software developer Orion Health

Economists have cut their forecasts of economic growth in the current year, the latest quarterly survey conducted by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research has found.

The tourism industry wants to outperform Government forecasts to cement its position as one of New Zealand's biggest export sectors.