Investing

Northland has a strong growing economy based on agriculture, tourism, forestry and woodprocessing, horticulture, construction and marine engineering. Emerging industries include the creative sector, mining and aquaculture. The Northland economy and industry is supported by a full range of professional and retail services.

Northland’s annual gross regional product is $3.4 billion and the economy has recorded an average 3.8% growth over the last five years. The region is expected to continue its pattern of growth with business confidence strong.

Northland has a population base of more than 148,500 with about 51,500 employees working for over 17,000 businesses.

Advantages include a long growing season, relatively stable workforce and available land. Whangarei is home to New Zealand’s only oil refinery, one of the region’s biggest employers.

The deep water port that provides a general bulk/cargo facility at Marsden Point, Whangarei provides the region with access to national and international markets, giving the region potential advantages over others in New Zealand.

Northland has airports at Whangarei, Kerikeri and Kaitaia with daily flights to and from the Auckland International airport.

By road, Auckland, News Zealand’s largest city with a population of over 1 million, is approximately a 2 ½ hours drive.

In 2005 Northland had reduced its unemployment level to the lowest recorded in 19 years. The tourism and hospitality sectors combined have become the region’s biggest employer.

Another strength of the region is the demonstration by key stakeholders including councils, the private sector, government agencies, Iwi and the regional economic development agency to work collaboratively together to promote sustainable economic growth and move the region away from the “boom and bust” cycles that have been present in the economy in the past.

Historically, these cycles have partly occurred due to the regional economy being reliant on relatively slow growing primary sectors which may also be subject to fluctuations in commodity markets.

Related Websites

• Enterprise Northland
  The Northland regional economic development agency - a website with more detailed information about the Northland eocnomy, current and past projects and publications
  
• Far North District Council
  Business assistance, district statistics, resources, economic development and more
• Whangarei Quarterly Review
  Statistics for the Whangarei District including population, labour force, business locations, economic indicators and much more
• Statistics New Zealand Tatauranga Aotearoa
  Regional statistics can be found at New Zealand’s official statistical agency. You will find census information and statistics by region. In particular, look for the Table Builder section of this site
• National Bank of New Zealand: Regional Trends
  Regional Trends provided by the National Bank gives a quarterly analysis of economic indicators
• Northland Chamber of Commerce
  The Northland Chamber of Commerce provides a quarterly Business Opinion Survey