"Cheaper travel to the UK and Europe" exclaimed New Zealand's largest newspaper the NZ Herald on Saturday morning.

While a depressed pound will make it cheaper for traveling Kiwis to holiday in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff or Belfast, the effects will, perhaps, be felt most in New Zealand's $37bn (€23bn) food sector.

Three per cent of New Zealand’s primary exports are destined for Britain each year.

There was a sense of shock in New Zealand's largest city Auckland on Friday afternoon when it began to emerge that the United Kingdom (UK) had passed the Brexit referendum to leave the European Union (EU).

Those in trade bodies, agencies and exporting companies were left staring into a future which is as uncertain for them as it is for many parts of Europe.

The New Zealand government, led by prime minister John Key, will form a trade task force to plan on how the country will engage and trade with the UK now.

Export focused

New Zealand has a plan to grow exprots. It is on a charm and export offensive to grow primary production exports to $64bn (€40.1bn) by 2025.

This is its ambitious Business Growth Agenda strategy and central to the plan is exporting agriculture technology to Ireland and Europe. It remains to be seen how, if at all, this will be effected.

A group of its big domestic primary producers like Waikato Milking Systems, Duncan Ag and LIC Automation will be exhibiting at the National Ploughing Championships in September with more than an eye on the Irish and British markets.

At farm level, there is also a lack of clarity.

Dr William Rolleston is the president of New Zealand’s largest farm organisation Federated Farmers of New Zealand.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal on Saturday morning in Auckland, Dr Rolleston said farmers are left wondering what the future is for New Zealand as an export-focused country.

He did express a desire to step in to take up slack to provide the UK with produce it currently receives from other EU nations, namely sheepmeat.

“Britain leaving the EU will create a considerable degree of political and financial uncertainty but we must consider what new opportunities might be won. This could be a great opportunity to work with lamb producers in the UK to get better outcomes for both countries.

“We have a shared history with the UK and want to ensure this outcome works in both countries’ interests. We need to emphasis our common thinking and remind Britain we are an important ally,” Dr Rolleston said.

He did sound a word of warning on the future of global trading.

“The vote suggests a significant threat against the trends of globalisation and trade liberalisation. New Zealand as a small open economy will be a loser if protectionism prevails.”

Read more

Full coverage: Brexit