Prime Minister John Key will launch his own version of 'Panda diplomacy' in Beijing today.

Worrying signs of a stalling economic recovery have shown up in the latest Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion published this morning.

Prime Minister John Key and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak today agreed they wanted progress on free trade negotiations but little has been done to ease Korean fears over New Zealand's agriculture sector.

The New Zealand dollar has fallen against major currencies as global growth worries continue.

The kiwi dollar extended its decline to a three-week low as fears over America's recovery sapped investors' appetite for riskier assets.

Nearly 90pc of Fonterra's 10,500 farmer shareholders have voted to approve a new share trading plan.

Fonterra's farmer shareholders today voted in favour of the Trading Among Farmers proposal, approving plans to make its stock tradeable among themselves, freeing up capital for new investments.

Fonterra's farmers are voting today on whether to allow trading of shares in the co-op among themselves.

Fears about debt and an unwillingness to spend is holding back New Zealand's economic recovery, says Jonathan Ling, chief executive of Fletcher Building.

Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier says tomorrow's vote on whether to start share-trading among farmers is the most important decision for its farmers since the co-op was created.

Greenstone Energy has taken delivery of its first shipment of oil with 700,000 barrels delivered at the Marsden Point refinery.