Waikato Milking Systems has taken out the supreme award at the 2016 Air New Zealand Cargo ExportNZ Awards for Auckland and Waikato regions.
The Waikato manufacturing exporter was established in 1967 and is an example of the growth of Agri-tech exporters according to the award judges.
“We need to celebrate the success of our exporters, and the awards programme is an excellent way to do this, given exporting accounts for 29% of our GDP,” says Judging Convenor Barry Squires.
The dairy system designer and manufacturer also won the QBE Insurance Exporter of the Year (export revenue $10 million – $25 million) category.
It is the first year the awards have been opened up to Waikato businesses.
Seven category winners were announced from 25 finalists at the awards night held in Auckland.
The Westpac Exporter of the Year (export revenue over $25 million) was the Gallagher Group Ltd.
The QBE Insurance Exporter of the Year (export earnings $10 million – $25 million) was also Waikato Milking Systems.
The BDO Exporter of the Year (export earnings $1million – $10million) was Rayglass Boats, which was established in 1989 and is a leading manufacturer of high-quality power boats.
The Endace Services Exporter of the Year (export revenue $1million – $10million) was ICL Education.
The TNT Emerging Exporter of the Year was Virsae, which provides cloud services to allow its clients to manage their technology and communication systems.
The Baldwins Intellectual Property Best Use of Commercialisation of Innovation for Export was bathroom ware manufacturer Methven Ltd.
The Quantium Solutions E-Commerce Exporter of the Year was skincare apothecary Triumph & Disaster.
