Aussie and NZ are rather alike. We sold nearly all our sawmills to overseas owned companies that only bought them for the associated contracts to purchase timbe

Aussie and NZ are rather alike. We sold nearly all our sawmills to overseas owned companies that only bought them for the associated contracts to purchase timber. The sawmills were promptly closed, and the raw logs exported in bulk to Japan and China as a form of protectionism / subsidised employment. They take the inefficiencies to keep portions of their population employed that might otherwise not be. Then there's the fact that nearly all of our dairy exports are milk powder. It's hardly value add.