Manufacturing in New Zealand
This page gathers the figures we hold on manufacturing in New Zealand. Each section names its own source.
Each source groups industries its own way, so the edges of manufacturing differ a little from section to section.
- Median sale multiple7.5times EBITDA
- Still trading after three years60%of businesses started in the year to February 2022
- Wage rate change+2.2%the year to June 2026
What businesses sold for
- Manufacturing7.5 times EBITDA, middle half 6.0 to 9.0, 30+ deals
- Food and beverage manufacturing7.5 times EBITDA, middle half 6.0 to 9.5, 20+ deals
- Industrial and engineered products6.5 times EBITDA, 5+ deals
Deal details
Manufacturing: median 7.5 times EBITDA. The middle half of deals ran from 6.0 to 9.0 times (30+ deals of NZ$10.9 million to NZ$543 million, announced 2001 to 2025).
Food and beverage manufacturing: median 7.5 times EBITDA. The middle half of deals ran from 6.0 to 9.5 times (20+ deals of NZ$10.9 million to NZ$543 million, announced 2001 to 2023).
Industrial and engineered products: median 6.5 times EBITDA (5+ deals of NZ$10.9 million to NZ$543 million, announced 2012 to 2023).
Sizes are converted from our size range of A$10 million to A$500 million, at the fixed rate our database uses to place overseas deals: NZ$1 = A$0.92. The rate stays fixed, so the range always describes the same deals.
What multiple will my business sell for?
In New Zealand, manufacturing businesses bought between 2001 and 2025 sold for a median of 7.5 times EBITDA, across 30+ deals.
See what New Zealand businesses sell for, by sector.
These are deals for New Zealand businesses in our database, not every deal in the market.
Source: deals in our database with a published value. Counts by onestepright.
Compare sale multiples across countries.
How many businesses are still trading
About 60 in every 100 were still trading three years later.
Stats NZ counts a business as still trading only if it was trading at every February count since it started.
Source: Stats NZ, New Zealand Business Demography Statistics. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Businesses that started and stopped
Each is a share of the businesses trading in February 2025.
Stats NZ marks the latest year as preliminary.
Source: Stats NZ, New Zealand Business Demography Statistics. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Rates computed by onestepright.
What costs did
What wage rates and input prices did in this industry. Each comes from its own Stats NZ series and grouping of industries.
Each bar comes from its own Stats NZ series, named below.
Source: Stats NZ, Labour Cost Index, private sector, all salary and wage rates. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
By part of manufacturing:
- Food, beverage and tobacco product manufacturing: rose 6.0%
- Furniture and other manufacturing: rose 12.8%
- Metal product manufacturing: rose 8.5%
- Non-metallic mineral product manufacturing: rose 5.8%
- Petroleum, chemical, polymer and rubber product manufacturing: rose 14.5%
- Printing: rose 3.4%
- Textile, leather, clothing and footwear manufacturing: rose 16.3%
- Transport equipment, machinery and equipment manufacturing: rose 5.4%
- Wood and paper products manufacturing: rose 3.0%
Source: Stats NZ, Producers Price Index, inputs. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Some changes computed by onestepright from the published indexes.
Each country measures these its own way. The figures sit side by side and do not compare exactly.
| Measure | New Zealand (%) | Australia (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Private sector wage rates | 2.2 | 3.2 |
| Input prices | 6.9 | 10.7 |
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Wage Price Index, Australia (6345.0), private sector, total hourly rates excluding bonuses. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Producer Price Indexes, Australia (6427.0). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Changes computed by onestepright.
Your own cost mix
Enter the share of your costs that go on inputs and on wages. The box works out what those two changes add to your total costs, if your costs moved with the industry. Nothing you enter leaves this page.
Your own suppliers' prices and wage rises are the better figures, if you have them.
How businesses set prices
In 2022, 77.8% of manufacturing firms with six or more staff that set their own prices added a margin to cost.
The survey asked about each firm's main product only.
Source: Stats NZ, Business Operations Survey 2022. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
This work is based on/includes Stats NZ's data which are licensed by Stats NZ for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
See manufacturing in Australia.
See manufacturing in the United Kingdom.
See manufacturing in the United States.
Who in your business can move a price, and by how much? The pricing check takes about ten minutes.