Pam Tipa writes in Rural News that almost $600 million flowed into the meat industry from outside New Zealand in the last 18 months.
Overseas firms looked to secure NZ beef and lamb and strengthen their global agrifood positions, says a new report.
Investors chiefly from China and Japan bought in, says the report ‘Investors Guide to the NZ Meat industry 2017’, released in June. It was commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and prepared by Coriolis.
| A RuralNews releas || August 1, 2017 |||
Specialist global steel manufacturer, SSAB, is well known for its Hardox wear plate and Strenx performance steel products, each offering their own certification program that adds value and quality to the end products in the market. Its longstanding Hardox In My Body program has become a simple way to recognise when the exceptional Hardox steel is used in truck and trailer bodies while My Inner Strenx is all about enhancing structural performance for industrial applications with the Strenx range.
SSAB claims that it has over 400 certified members worldwide for its Hardox In My Body program. Members of the program use the Hardox range of steel products – such as its wear plates – in their builds, resulting in equipment with exceptional wear resistance, unsurpassed impact strength and the assurance that end-users will save money and time down the road by using the superior steel-manufactured product.
Once a member of the program, each trailer builder’s product must be approved by the SSAB board before it can earn the certification, a group that consists of wear and structural technology experts that analyse welding quality, manufacturing process and design. The program sticker sign has a unique ID system that provides full traceability for the origins of the materials used, so customers can be assured that they are getting a superior steel product manufactured by a qualified program member.
SSAB recently appointed New Zealand-based Giltrap Engineering as a Hardox In My Body members, which has been using Hardox in its vehicles since 2013. An innovator in agricultural equipment, Giltrap has over 50 years of industry experience and operates a fully equipped processing and fabrication workshop as well as a painting facility.
Giltrap has developed a custom tipper design unique to New Zealand, boasting a 6mm Hardox 450 grade body in a two-plate U-shape design with integrated top rails.
Another newly appointed member of Hardox In My Body, Mid West Engineering needed a distinct point of difference to outlast its waste management competitors, so it retrofitted its waste trucks with Hardox. Mid West has been using Hardox for about a decade and has said that its vehicles look new after years of operation due to the superior surface protection that the Hardox range offers.
In addition to providing enhanced surface protection products, SSAB has also appointed a new member for My Inner Strenx to demonstrate the advantages of using high-strength steel with road trains and similar transport vehicles in the mining industry.
Alongside its Hardox In My Body program, SSAB’s My Inner Strenx program offers superior structural steel for heavy-duty equipment manufacturers. Strenx is made via quality-controlled production techniques and is optimised for a range of demanding applications including truck chassis and body reinforcement. The Strenx certification also comes with a unique identifier, which determines product authenticity and where the materials were sourced.
Joining the My Inner Strenx program, Bruce Rock Engineering (BRE) has serviced the agricultural region around Bruce Rock in Western Australia since 1980 and offers road transport equipment, design, manufacture and maintenance. In 2006, BRE expanded its range to produce side-tipping trucks for the mining industry and has since engaged in lightweight body design using Hardox 450 material grade – making them the lightest steel tippers in the market.
By adding value to its industrial and commercial equipment, BRE uses SSAB’s high strength steel in everything from end tippers and road trains to dollies, drawbars and skel trailers. BRE is capable of producing around two to four trailers a week and takes advantage of the Strenx and Hardox certifications to emphasise its high-quality builds from high-performance steel and exceptional structural reinforcement.
With its Hardox in My Body and My Inner Strenx programs, SSAB does more than just providing the high quality Hardox wear plate and Strenx performance steel to its trailer building membership group – the certification also serves as a badge of honour that reinforces the structural integrity of truck and trailer bodies.
| A Trailer release || August 1, 2017 |||
The new Kahukura building at Ara Institute of Canterbury, conceived as a teaching tool for engineering students, is ready just in time to host the Week of Engineering Expo in Christchurch on Saturday 5 August from 10am-4pm.
Coordinated by IPENZ as part of the national Week of Engineering, the Expo will bring in engineering professionals who can enjoy the innovative new engineering and architectural studies facility ahead of an official opening in August.
There is plenty to interest engineers, students and the public at the Expo. Kahukura is among a handful of buildings in Christchurch to utilise local, sustainable timber technology with Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) as the structural frame and Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) as the structure of the facade. Timber dominates throughout the building, with concrete and steel playing secondary roles. The building is seismically strong and actually stores carbon through the use of wood.
The Expo will be a chance for the public to check out Kahukura. During the day there will be free screenings of the film Dream Big - Engineering Our World, narrated by Academy Award winner Jeff Bridges. The film spans the range of engineering from the Great Wall of China and the world’s tallest buildings, to underwater robots, solar cars and smart, sustainable cities.The day is all about inspiring the next generation of engineers. Exhibiting organisations from around Christchurch will bring their best technology to the expo to engage secondary school students in the wide world of engineering.
Exhibitors include Beca, Structex, Stantec, BVT Consulting, Fonterra, BVT Consulting, Fonterra, University of Canterbury - College of Engineering, TDG, Harrison Grierson, Opus, Engineers without Borders, Caterpillar Trimble Control Technologies and Orion.
During the preceding Week of Engineering, a programme of events at partner organisations will further inspire and educate students. New Zealand needs more engineers, and in response the Government has set a goal of increasing engineering graduates by 500 per year. In particular the country needs to almost double the number of graduates with a New Zealand Diploma in Engineering (Level 6) or a Bachelor of Engineering Technology (Level 7) - both of which are offered at Ara.
Ara will run the Quake Craft challenge in the Vodafone Building on 1 and 2 August. Based on the institute’s excellent school holiday STEM workshops, the Quakecraft challenge is to design and prototype a sustainable tiny house for extreme conditions and natural disasters using maths, physics and engineering. Using 3D printing and computer aided design students work in teams to design a model house and test its structural integrity on a shake table.
For students, the $34m, 6500m2 Kahukura offers a blend of purpose designed and flexible learning areas - and even a cafe. The exhibition space on the ground floor was envisaged for hosting events such as the Engineering Expo.
| A n Ara Institute of Canterbury release || August 1, 2017 |||
CHINA’S manufacturing activity eased slightly last month amid hot weather and flooding.
The official Purchasing Managers’ Index, which measures vitality in the sector, slowed to 51.4 in July from June’s 51.7, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.
Though slower than the market’s expected 51.6, it remained in expansionary territory for a 12th consecutive month.
A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below reflects contraction.
Zhao Qinghe, the bureau’s senior statistician, said the July reading had remained between 51 and 52 over the past seven months. The slower expansion was partly due to hot weather nationwide and flooding in some areas, Zhao said.
External demand also weakened, with the sub-index for new export orders falling to 50.9 from 52 in June.
However, input and output prices both rose with companies’ increased purchasing, Zhao said.
Chen Zhongtao, an analyst with the China Logistics Information Center, called the July reading a seasonal fluctuation.
“It’s difficult to avoid volatility at such a relatively high level,” Chen said, noting that the PMI has hovered above 51 for 10 months in a row.
The structural upgrade of the manufacturing sector continued. High-tech and equipment manufacturing led the expansion in July, with their sub-indexes higher than the overall sector’s PMI.
In contrast, the sub-index for oil processing and coking, as well as the non-metal mineral products industry, stayed below 50 for the third month in a row, affected by overcapacity and restructuring.
“The shift between the old and new momentum of growth is accelerating,” Chen said.
The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group attributed the overall weakening to weather conditions, and said the slowdown was temporary.
“Hot weather and flooding in some parts of China temporarily disrupted business activity and dragged the overall index lower,” Betty Wang, ANZ’s senior China economist, said in a note. “The continuous ascent in prices suggests to us a longer industrial recovery. We may see a rebound in upcoming months.”
Despite the slower manufacturing expansion, firms continued to increase purchases with stronger confidence in their future growth, according to Zhao.
The sub-index for the quantity of purchases rose to 52.7 from 52.5 in June, while that for expectations on production and business operations climbed to 59.1 from 58.7, the third consecutive month of increase.
Yesterday’s figures also showed the non-manufacturing PMI moderated to 54.5 from 54.9.
Zhao said a contraction of activity in road transport, real estate and residential services overshadowed faster expansion in postal services, broadcasting and Internet sectors.
“The PMI drop in July was a normal fluctuation and did not show much about the cyclical trend of China’s economy,” CITIC Securities said in a note. “The positive economic outlook remained unchanged.”
For China’s macro-economic policy-makers, the pressure of supporting growth is gradually lessening, according to CITIC Securities.
It predicted no changes to China’s monetary policy stance, which has been set as prudent and neutral for 2017.
Yesterday’s data came after a slew of economic indicators that showed China’s economy steadily stabilizing and improving.
Official statistics put China’s GDP growth at 6.9 percent in the first two quarters of the year, up from 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016, beating market expectations.
| A ShanghaieDaily.com release || July, 2017 |||
Apple growers have good reason to be optimistic, with New Zealand named the world’s most competitive apple performer in the World Apple Report for the third consecutive year.
The good news comes as hundreds of apple growers and industry players descend on Napier for Pipfruit New Zealand’s annual two-day conference. (August 2nd)
Pipfruit New Zealand Chief Executive Alan Pollard says the apple industry continues to grow and is a significant contributor to the Hawkes Bay and New Zealand economies with a goal to achieve $1bn in export returns by 2022.
“Although the outlook is bright we are focusing our conference this year on challenging and disrupting industry thinking about what the future may hold,” said Mr. Pollard.
“We must not get complacent. We need to continually keep improving and stay ahead of our competitors as the NZ apple industry is transforming into a billion-dollar export business.”
The World Apple Report, recently released, ranks New Zealand first over 33 major apple producing countries ahead of Chile and the US.
Mr Pollard said it is a great achievement to have a competitive edge over the rest of the world and to keep holding that position.
“The apple industry has doubled exports in the last four years so our provinces are prospering from this success. We are growing hundreds of full time jobs across the sector in all areas including production, post-harvest, logistics, marketing and exports.
“We expect to see over one million apple trees planted in New Zealand this year and nurseries have three-year back orders as growers work to meet a growing international demand for New Zealand apples.”
The Pipfruit New Zealand Conference starts on Wednesday 2nd August and will run for two days with some well-known names taking centre stage.
Sir Ray Avery will speak about disruptive thinking, Dr Andre de Barros Teixeira will discuss innovation, technology, R&D and marketing and Dame Diane Robertson will address the impact of big data on consumers and markets.
| A PipfruitNZ release || August 1, 2017 |||
The New Zealand Defence Force has signed a multi-year contract with forwarder Kuehne + Nagel.
Under the agreement, the forwarder will be the global supplier of domestic and international freight forwarding and customs services to the Defence Force, which consists of the Royal New Zealand Navy, the New Zealand Army and the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
The scope includes specialised services such as aircraft support incorporating aircraft-on-ground and engine movements.
Kuehne + Nagel has set-up a ‘control tower’ with a dedicated team of experts in key locations to ensure continuity of supply and real-time visibility and online tracking tools to monitor cargo movements.
The Defence Force’s joint support component commander, Colonel Ruth Putze, said: "The movement of freight in support of domestic and international operations is critical to our business. We are therefore very happy to be working with Kuehne + Nagel as a highly qualified and professional service provider."
The forwarder’s New Zealand managing director, Michael Aldwell, added: "We are delighted to partner with the New Zealand Defence Force as their exclusive supplier for freight forwarding services and look forward to delivering customer excellence by drawing on our global expertise in government and defence logistics as well as aid & relief operations."
| An AirCargo release || August 1, 2017 |||
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242