Trends in the terms of exchange and productivity in the New Zealand dairy industry

Abstract

This paper sets out the available information on price trends facing the dairy industry since 1948/49, and some estimates of productivity increases over the same period. The general aim of the paper is to ascertain how the dairy industry has been affected by the so-called cost price squeeze and to examine how the adverse effects of the squeeze, if any, have been overcome by increased productivity. The data available to carry out this exercise is not perfect and some space is therefore devoted to setting out how the various data series were obtained.