Mining, Dairying, Tourism and Agriculture drive the West Coast economy. Dairying has continued to increase and is now a big earner with 140,000 dairy cows in the West Coast Region. Horticulture and fruit growing continues steadily with strong expectations of further opportunities. Mining on the West Coast outperformed the rest of New Zealand in coal and gold production, due to expanding production in recently opened mines in the Region. Tourism has grown slowly but continues to have a big impact on the local economy.
The West Coast Economic Development Strategy predicts the leading employment growth industries will be, in order; tourism, mining, business services, infrastructure services, socio/community services, processing, manufacturing and dairying.
Table 4.1 summarises the key commercial indicators for the region
| Commercial | Latest | Previous | West Coast % Change |
New Zealand % Change |
| Total Dairy Cows (thousand) | 140.0 | 132.6 | 5.58% | 5.98% |
| Milk Supplied (million litres) | 479.0 | 478.0 | 0.21% | 8.81% |
| Average Payout (cents/kg milksolids) | 458.0 | 799.0 | -42.68% | -31.28% |
| Coal Production (million tonnes) | 2.6 | 2.1 | 21.55% | 1.64% |
| Gold Production (tonnes) | 2.8 | 1.4 | 97.84% | 53.18% |
Most indicators are positive for the latest year, apart from Dairy products, where the average payout fell from the historical high seen in 2008.
