Between 2017 and 2024, the total value of goods exports by Māori authorities increased by 43 percent, according to figures released by Stats NZ today.
Over the same period, New Zealand's total goods exports increased by 32 percent.
Although the total value of exports by Māori authorities has increased since 2017, the value exported to some of their top export partners has decreased.
Māori authorities' exports to China decreased from $299 million in 2017 to $240 million in 2024. Similarly, exports to the United States decreased from $42 million in 2017 to $31 million in 2024.
In contrast, exports to other countries increased from $290 million in 2017 to $631 million in 2024.
"In 2024, 70 percent of the total value of goods exported by Māori authorities were to countries other than China and the United States, up from 46 percent in 2017," Tatauranga umanga Māori spokesperson Michael Heslop said.
"Other top export destinations for Māori authorities include Australia, the European Union, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan."
| Period | People's Republic of China | United States of America | Other |
| 2017 | 299000000 | 42000000 | 290000000 |
| 2018 | 347000000 | 42000000 | 331000000 |
| 2019 | 330000000 | 46000000 | 402000000 |
| 2020 | 273000000 | 41000000 | 474000000 |
| 2021 | 344000000 | 43000000 | 561000000 |
| 2022 | 284000000 | 49000000 | 535000000 |
| 2023 | 239000000 | 37000000 | 540000000 |
| 2024 | 240000000 | 31000000 | 631000000 |
Other Māori enterprises look to the European Union
Other Māori enterprises have been looking to the European Union for their exports. Between 2023 and 2024, the value of goods exports to the European Union by other Māori enterprises nearly doubled, to $15 million.
In this time, New Zealand's total goods exports to the European Union increased by $728 million (17 percent) to $4.98 billion.
The New Zealand-European Union Free Trade Agreement came into effect on 1 May 2024.
"Other Māori enterprises export a wide range of goods to the European Union, such as wine, honey, and other value-added agricultural products," Heslop said.
| Period | European Union |
| 2017 | 3000000 |
| 2018 | 3000000 |
| 2019 | 10000000 |
| 2020 | 11000000 |
| 2021 | 10000000 |
| 2022 | 6000000 |
| 2023 | 8000000 |
| 2024 | 15000000 |
Māori authorities and other Māori enterprises
Māori authorities are economically significant businesses involved in the collective management of assets held by Māori. Any business within a Māori authority ownership group is also included for the purposes of Tatauranga umanga Māori releases.
Other Māori enterprises are Māori businesses that are economically significant and are not Māori authorities.
Data standard for Māori business provides a definition for collecting and producing data and statistics about Māori businesses. Māori businesses are those that are fully or partly owned by a person or people who have Māori whakapapa, and a representative of that business identifies the business as Māori.
For more information on Māori businesses included in the Tatauranga umanga Māori population, see Tatauranga umanga Māori: 2023 pūrongo matatini - Statistics on Māori businesses: 2023 technical report.
