The Government is using "rugby diplomacy" - sending former All Blacks to China - to strengthen trade links.

Food safety, science and film production are the latest areas to benefit from New Zealand's free trade agreement with China.

Prime Minister John Key wants to get an agreement to double New Zealand's trade with China within five years.

Fonterra says milk powder prices in its monthly internet auction fell around 13.7 per cent overnight.

The New Zealand dollar gained on a weakening greenback after comments from the Reserve Bank of Australia yesterday spurred traders' appetite for high-yielding currencies.

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.