New Zealand's land based sectors' relative export performance 1990 to 2004

Between 1990 and 2004 the value of world trade increased by 110% whereas the value of exports from New Zealand's land based sectors expanded by only 51%. This paper examines New Zealand's performance using shift share analysis. According to this framework, the main cause of this slow export performance is that international trade in agricultural and forestry commodities has been growing slowly. Countering this, New Zealand has been improving its competitiveness within these commodities, especially since 2000.