China's taste buds guiding New Zealand infrastructure development

Changing diets in a developing China are forcing the New Zealand government to rethink its infrastructure investment, according to a report out Tuesday.

The first National Infrastructure Evidence Base, published by the National Infrastructure Unit, said the growth of China would be one of the key influences on the New Zealand economy, one of the four infrastructure drivers, including population, technology and resources.

"The projected rise in wealth, living standards and changing dietary tastes in China has implications for New Zealand in terms of our export commodities (e.g. dairy, meat, forestry) and our export services (e.g. tourism, education). A sustained increase in commodity demand will likely create a need for investment in our productive water infrastructure, freight networks and supporting infrastructure," said the report.

With the world economy still plagued by uncertainty in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, little to no growth in Europe, a moderate recovery in the United States and mixed results in other advanced economies, "the degree to which the appetite for agricultural commodities is sustained will have a significant impact on New Zealand," it said.

Finance Minister Bill English said the report showed plenty of scope to use and manage more than 120 billion NZ dollars (100.22 billion U.S. dollars) worth of public infrastructure assets.

"We face a range of infrastructure challenges, including from technology and demographic changes. Therefore, our traditional ways of spending more and building more infrastructure will need to change if we are to meet those challenges," English said in a statement.