By EMA Head of Export and Manufacturing Simon Devoy
For years, exporting was framed as a market access problem. If New Zealand secured free trade agreements and businesses found customers offshore, success would follow.
That’s no longer enough. Export success now depends just as much on navigating regulation, managing supply chain disruption, handling geopolitical risk, and financing periods of volatility.
Market access is still vitally important, but many New Zealand businesses face a more immediate challenge: building the capability, capital and management depth to grow sustainably offshore.
You can see this in the export profile. NZTE works with about 5,650 exporting businesses across 47 markets, yet only around 300 export more than $25 million a year. The challenge is not just creating new exporters; it’s helping more existing ones reach global scale.
This is New Zealand’s version of the Mittelstand problem. We produce innovative firms that succeed in niches, but too few make the jump to international scale.
Larger exporters can reroute logistics, diversify suppliers, absorb freight or tariff shocks, and invest in the systems that underpin competitiveness. They can also afford dedicated expertise in compliance, logistics, data and market development.
Smaller businesses carry more concentrated risk. A disrupted shipping route, the loss of a distributor, or a new product standard can quickly erode profitability.
These pressures are intensifying as geopolitical tensions, supply chain disruption and changing regulation become part of day-to-day operations. Exporters are dealing with new sustainability requirements, product traceability, digital rules and shifting trade relationships, while customers expect greater reliability and speed.
Global X Summit: Navigating the New Trade Environment
Understanding how these forces are reshaping trade will be a central theme at the EMA’s Global X Summit on 15 September. Developed with ExportNZ and NZTE, the summit brings together exporters, trade specialists and government leaders to focus on practical strategies for growth in a more complex environment.
The emphasis is on what exporting successfully now requires. Keynote speaker Stephen Jacobi, a long-standing trade policy expert, will address this directly.
His session, Staying competitive – your geopolitical reality check, goes to the heart of the challenge: remaining competitive as the rules of global trade evolve.
Jacobi agrees the number of large exporters in New Zealand is too small, but says the issue goes beyond scale.
“The rules-based order is collapsing,” he says.
In a more contested and less predictable environment, his advice is to stay the course while building the capability to operate through uncertainty.
That requires deliberate choices. Businesses need to diversify markets without chasing every opportunity. They need stronger governance, better market intelligence, and clear criteria for deciding where they can compete.
Investment in technology and automation can lift productivity and support traceability and compliance. But relationships with distributors and customers matter just as much.
“Exporters would be very well advised to invest in the relationships they have with importers and distributors,” Jacobi says.
At the same time, they should remain flexible and explore alternative markets.
“It’s not about selling less to any one good customer; it’s about making sure you’re looking at the alternatives.”
Southeast Asia offers long-term growth, and recent trade agreements are opening possibilities in markets such as India.
“But there are no silver bullets,” Jacobi says. “Choosing the right markets requires a clear view not only of demand, but where a business can compete profitably over time.”
That’s why we are partnering with NZTE for the Global X Summit. The agency works with businesses at different stages of their international journey, providing advice, market intelligence, in-market connections and access to global expertise.
Exporting is now as much about building an organisation that can sustain growth under pressure as it is about finding the next customer.