Tatauranga umanga Māori – Statistics on Māori businesses: 2019 (English)

Tēnā koutou katoa
Ka tū ake au i roto tōku whare Tatauranga Aotearoa
Ko te pātaka iringa kōrero o te tini, o te mano e
Mātakitaki whakawaho ki te ao pakihi, ki te ao umanga Māori rā
E maioha mai nei i a koutou mai i wīwī, mai i wāwā
Nau mai, haere mai, whakatau mai ki ēnei kohinga raraunga pakihi, raraunga umanga.
E ōku rau rangatira
Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

Greetings
I stand inside my house of Stats New Zealand
The storehouse of information from the multitudes
Looking outwardly to the business sector and Māori business entities
Welcoming you from the far reaches
Greetings, welcome to this collection of business statistics
To this stately gathering, acknowledgements, salutations, and greetings.

Tatauranga umanga Māori – Statistics on Māori businesses presents information on two subsets of Māori businesses that contribute to our country’s economy – Māori authorities and small and medium enterprises. This release also includes data on Māori tourism businesses which may be either Māori authorities or Māori SMEs.

In 2019:

• there were 1,200 Māori authorities
• about one-quarter of Māori authorities were in the primary industries and one-third in non-residential property
• Māori authorities exported $741 million worth of goods, almost half of which was kaimoana (seafood)
• almost half of Māori authorities' exports were to China
• there were almost 500 Māori small to medium enterprises (SMEs), 13 percent of them in the manufacturing industries
• Māori SMEs exported $202 million worth of goods, one-quarter of which was to Australia.

In 2018:

• total income for Māori authorities was $3.5 billion
• Māori authorities held $20.7 billion in assets, 14 percent in the agriculture industry
• Māori authorities earned $510.3 million in operating profit
• Māori authorities held a larger proportion of fixed tangible assets than the rest of New Zealand
• the average Māori farm was more than four times bigger than the average New Zealand farm.

Māori authorities are businesses involved in the collective management of assets held by Māori.

Māori small to medium enterprises (SMEs) are Māori businesses with fewer than 100 employees, and are not Māori authorities.

Māori tourism businesses may be either Māori authorities or Māori SMEs. They include businesses in industries such as accommodation and food services; transport, postal, and warehousing; and administration and support services industries.

In 2019, there were 1,200 Māori authorities, with about one-quarter of these in the primary industries, and one-third in non-residential property.

Treaty settlements for Māori are often made up largely of land.

The primary industries accounted for about 12 percent of all New Zealand businesses in 2019, and non-residential property for 11 percent.

 Text alternative for Māori authority businesses by industry, 2019.

There were 492 Māori SMEs in 2019, with businesses spread across a number of industries.

 Text alternative for Māori small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by industry, 2019.

Over 12,000 people were employed by Māori authorities in 2019 – a 52 percent increase from 2012. Māori authorities are growing at a faster rate than all New Zealand businesses, who had an 18 percent increase in employees over the same period.

Almost 10,000 people were employed in Māori SMEs, with manufacturing; health care and social assistance; agriculture; and construction industries accounting for around half of all employees.

On average, each Māori SME employed 20 people, compared with around 10 on average for Māori authorities.
Exports of commodities

Kaimoana biggest export for Maori authorities

Māori authorities exported $741 million worth of commodities in 2019, almost half of which were kaimoana (seafood). Between 2010 and 2019, exports by Māori authorities rose steadily, apart from a fall in 2015. Almost half of all exports by Māori authorities in 2019 were to China, whereas China accounted for more than one-quarter of exports of commodities from all New Zealand businesses.

Kaimoana (fish, crustaceans, and molluscs) have remained the top export for Māori authorities since 2010. The value of kaimoana exports rose 54 percent in 2019 compared with 2010 to reach $365 million.

Māori SMEs exported $202 million worth of commodities in 2019, down slightly on the previous year. Around one-quarter of exports, or $48 million, were to Australia.

While Australia has remained the top market for Māori SME exports since 2010, the proportion of exports going to that country has generally been lower in previous years.

Total income for Māori authorities was $3.5 billion in the 2018 financial year, up 4 percent from the previous year. This represents a seven-year high for Māori authorities and continues an upward trend. The majority of this income was from the sales of goods and services (85 percent), with a further 8 percent from interest, dividends, and donations, 5 percent from non-operating income, and just 2 percent from government funding.

The operating profit of Māori authorities also grew in 2018, reaching $510.3 million, the highest profit since 2014.

Text alternative for operating profit for Māori authorities for 2018.

The asset base of Māori authorities also continued to grow, reaching $20.7 billion in 2018, up 6 percent from the previous year. This now represents 1 percent of New Zealand’s total assets.

In 2018, Māori authorities had a similar proportion of other assets such as goodwill, trademarks, and shares in subsidiary companies compared with the total New Zealand economy (43 percent and 48 percent, respectively). However, Māori authorities have a larger proportion of fixed tangible assets such as land, buildings, and machinery (41 percent), compared with the total New Zealand economy (24 percent).

Māori tourism businesses employ more than 11,000

In 2019 there were 234 Māori tourism businesses. More than half of these were in either the arts and recreational services, or accommodation and food services industries.

Māori tourism businesses employed more than 11,000 people, which is around 3 percent of total employment in the tourism sector, see Tourism satellite account: 2019.

More than one-third of those employed by Māori tourism businesses were in the administrative and support services industry, which includes travel agency and travel arrangers.

Māori tourism businesses focus on development

In 2019, almost one-fifth (18 percent) of Māori tourism businesses carried out research and development activity, up 7 percentage points from 2017.

More than 70 percent of Māori tourism businesses undertook innovation activities in the two years to 2019, compared with around half of all New Zealand businesses.

Innovation encompasses activities such as research and development (R&D), product design and marketing, as well as other related activities such as prototyping or commercialisation of the developed product.

Almost half of Māori tourism businesses undertook production development activities. Almost one-third invested in marketing or market innovation, a proportion that has remained steady since 2015. However, the proportion of Māori tourism businesses who invested in design innovation has doubled since 2013 to reach 24 percent in 2019.

Filled jobs down for Māori tourism businesses but worker turnover rate stable

Māori tourism businesses had a total of 10,490 filled jobs in the December 2018 quarter (the latest reference quarter). This represents the number of jobs on 15 November 2018.

Filled jobs for Māori businesses in the tourism industry have remained relatively steady over the five years to December 2018. However, a 9 percent fall for the December 2018 quarter compared with the same quarter in 2017 indicated a slight slowing of economic activity.

The worker-turnover rate for Māori tourism businesses was 18.6 in the December 2018 quarter, with an average of 19.6 over the last five years. This is similar to other tourism industries as a whole such as sightseeing transport, rental, and hiring; and arts and recreational services.

Data for filled jobs and worker turnover has a significant lag. It reflects the situation before the outbreak of COVID-19.

Many more sheep than beef and dairy on Māori farms

There were more than 200 Māori authority agricultural businesses in 2018. This accounted for around one-sixth of all Māori authorities.

The average Māori farm was four times the size of the average New Zealand farm, and had on average three times as much livestock.

Just over half of Māori farms are made up of grassland, with plantations (for example, pine trees) making up 22 percent of Māori farms, and bush and scrub 16 percent.

While livestock numbers on Māori farms increased from 2016, they fell slightly in 2018 compared with 2017. Sheep numbers fell 3 percent, beef cattle 5 percent, and dairy cattle 12 percent. The fall in dairy cattle numbers follows a 9 percent fall in the previous year.

Livestock on Māori farms tends to be sheep, beef, and dairy cattle, with sheep numbers far exceeding those of other livestock.

Breeding ewes and hoggets make up nearly three-quarters of all sheep on Māori farms. Beef breeding cows and heifers make up just over one-third of total beef cattle and over three-quarters of total dairy cattle is made up of milking cows and heifers.

Māori farms with sheep had just over four times as many sheep (6,822 on average) compared with all New Zealand farms with sheep (1,601 on average).

Māori farms with beef cattle had nearly five times as many (805 on average) compared with all New Zealand farms with beef cattle (164 on average).

Māori farms with dairy cattle had twice as many (891 on average) compared with all New Zealand farms with dairy cattle (445 on average).

The land and livestock data in this release comes from the agricultural production survey, and was the latest available when this release was compiled.

Agricultural production statistics: June 2019 (final), released at the end of May, has data for 2019.

Text alternatives

Text alternative for Māori authority businesses by industry, 2019

This infographic shows the percentage of Māori authority businesses by industry for 2019. Seventeen percent of the businesses are in agriculture, 6 percent are in other primary industries, 33 percent are non-residential property operators, and 44 percent are in all other industries.

Text alternative for Māori small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by industry, 2019

This infographic shows the percentage of Māori small and medium enterprises by industry for 2019. It shows that 13 percent are in manufacturing, 12 percent in agriculture, forestry, and fishing, 10 percent in professional, scientific, and technical services, 9 percent in health care and social assistance, 8 percent in construction, and 49 percent in all other.

Text alternative for operating profit for Māori authorities for 2018

This diagram sets out an equation for operating profit for Māori authorities for 2018. It shows total operating income of $3,322 million minus operating expenditure of $2,840 million, plus the change in stocks of $28 million, resulting in operating profit of $510 million.

Definitions and metadata

Definitions of a Māori business for Tatauranga umanga Māori 2019 – DataInfo+ explains how we identified the enterprises included in this release.

Methodology for Tatauranga umanga Māori 2019 – DataInfo+ explains the methodology for each component of this release and provides more information on the data and tables.

Media enquiries

Geraldine Duoba
04 931 4322
info@stats.govt.nz

Technical enquiries

Keely Betham
04 931 4695
info@stats.govt.nz

ISBN 978-1-98-858392-1

Next release

Tatauranga umanga Māori – Statistics on Māori businesses: 2020 will be released in 2021.