Christchurch Rebuild: Dairy boom helps boost confidence

Mark Heer.

ASB Bank's rural general manager Mark Heer says while investment activity in Christchurch is ramping up after a post-quake pause, things never really slowed down in the hinterland.

He says although it took a long time to get under way, there's been a noticeable lift in confidence in recent months. "People are getting comfortable, critical decisions have been made, business owners are signing leases."

It's not just the bank's customers. Heer says ASB Bank recently committed to a major new city centre regional office on the corner where Colombo and Hereford Streets meet Cathedral Square. The bank is due to move around 100 employees into the new premises in early 2016. He says the bank's decision is an example of renewed confidence in the city.

The wider ramp-up means ASB has poured resources into the region. "With increased activity coming on-stream, we've needed to put more skills in place to meet the demand from Christchurch businesses. That means commercial bankers, corporate finance, property finance and asset finance specialists".

For the most part the additional staff have been pulled from other parts of the country. "There's a mix of existing staff and new people - there's an element of New Zealanders coming back from overseas," says Heer.

The bank has had little trouble getting people to move to the region. Some look forward to the challenge and want to be part of the reconstruction effort while others see it as an opportunity to advance their careers.

Much of the confidence in Christchurch is based on the dairy boom across the region. Although country areas shook as much as the city during the earthquakes, Heer says production wasn't affected. "While there will always be exceptions, in general rural Canterbury wasn't heavily impacted by the earthquakes. The key infrastructure on farms - mainly milking sheds - was largely unbroken. The farming sector, sheep, beef, dairy and cropping has continued more or less as it was doing before the earthquake".

Overlaid on this is what Heer describes as a realignment of farming in the region, with farms being converted from beef and sheep production to dairy. Economic factors have played a part: the milk payout levels have remained strong during this time, commodity prices in general are strong and interest rates are still low by historic standards. And there has been good luck. "It also helps that in general the climate has been favourable; there was some snow and wind, but not enough to affect dairy production".

This all adds up to reasonably prosperous times "inside the farm gate".

That has a flow-on effect in the wider community. Dairy farming is more labour intensive than other production - farmers need help with milking. So the average number of jobs per farm has been steadily rising from the one or two on sheep, beef or cropping farms to three or four people.

There are also more jobs in processing and distribution. Dairy means more trucks on the roads, more containers through the port, more air freight. And the increased use of technology creates more employment.