Economic powerhouse - the South Island?

Mid-Canterbury, South Island, N.Z.


In his Comment column published in the Dominion Post for February 28, 2011, Tom Pullar-Strecker asserted that 'The mainland (= South Island for our non-NZ audience) is the powerhouse of our export economy.'

At first this seemed a bit far-fetched and I puzzled over how I would prove or disprove his statement.  Subsequently I was reading the February issue of NZ Manufacturer p.10 and came across these outstanding statistics for Mid-Canterbury which supplies:

• 50% of world requirements for radish seeds
• 35% of world requirements for white clover seeds
• 33% of world requirements for carrot seeds
• approx 30% of world requirements for bok choi seeds
• 1/4 of all NZ feed grains
• 60% of the seeds for growing pasture - underpinning a NZD$9 bn export industry

These figures at least go some way to proving Tom Pullar-Strecker right!  It's obviously a subject worth more investigation.