More good news for manufacturing

The good news coming out of the manufacturing sector just keeps on coming. And it has nothing to do with the "parliamentary inquiry" stunt by LabourGreenNZFirstMana; the Otago Daily Times reports:

Another survey has dented claims by Opposition political parties that New Zealand's exporting manufacturing industries are in a state of crisis.
Labour leader David Shearer and economic development spokesman David Clark were hot on the case yesterday, claiming the Government had its head buried when it came to the state of the manufacturing industries.
However, the annual DHL Export Barometer - which canvassed 277 firms in the manufacturing, agriculture, tourism and professional services sectors - found 59% of companies were confident export orders would increase in the next 12 months, up from the record low of 51% in last year's survey.
Fifty-four percent of exporters were expecting profitability to rise over the same period, despite the strong currency. 

And rather than cry out for the Government to help them, exporters are helping themselves; read on:

''Overall, we're seeing exporters adopt strategies that focus on what they can control, as opposed to being held to ransom by external factors that they can't control,'' DHL Express New Zealand country manager Tim Baxter said.
The DHL survey said exporters were using a range of methods to deal with the dollar such as refining their offering (32%), repricing (31%), looking at new markets (26%) and competing online (23%).
Companies were also taking advantage of the high dollar by importing. Almost 80% of exporters were importing, up from 64% in last year's survey.
The survey said the exchange rate was having the biggest impact on exporters, followed by fuel prices and international competition.
ExportNZ executive director Catherine Beard said the DHL survey results were positive and showed the resilience of the export community.
''We've had the global financial crisis, demand challenges and our currency being quite high against our trading partners when historically it's been a lot lower.
"It has been the perfect storm, in some ways, and I think the fact that our export statistics are generally holding up is an indicator of the growing sophistication of our exporters in terms of moving up the value chain and being as productive as they can,'' she said.
The value of New Zealand's total exports rose 5.14% in March, compared with the same month a year earlier, according to Statistics NZ. 

Intervention by the Reserve Bank to lower the value of the New Zealand dollar is a short-term fix at best. There is no way that the Reserve Bank can simply manipulate the value of the $NZ down in the longer term. Ours is a very small economy which is at the mercy of large economies, especially that of the US. It's not so much a case of the $NZ being high as much as it is a commentary on the weakness of other economies compared to ours.

The New Zealand dollar will fall again. Such is the nature of economic cycles. And those manufacturers and exporters who, as Tim Baxter said adopted "strategies that focus on what they can control" will benefit. Those who sat back and did nothing whilst waiting for the Government to intervene will still struggle, whatever the value of the exchange rate.

A key to business survival is the willingness to be innovative, creative and to embrace change rather than resist it. New Zealand businesses, especially those who export, have faced many challenges over the past five years. It is pleasing to see an emergence from tough times, and a growing optimism around our exporters, who will always be pivotal to our economic success.