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It is too early to say how much New Zealand exporters who cannot get their perishable goods into European markets due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland could lose.
Export New Zealand executive director Catherine Beard said the exporters most at risk are those with perishable products such as seafood, flowers, or even high value time-sensitive exports such as high tech products.
She said it was too early to quantify the cost of the loss of
flights into Europe for business, as those affected may be able to
find customers closer to home.
Beard says some exporters are currently being told of delays of two
to three weeks.
"Those with weekly shipments into UK supermarkets have had those consignments halted. There's also a seafood trade show in Brussels in 10 days time that neither product nor people will be able to attend.
"On the positive side, the majority of New Zealand export volume - such as chilled and frozen meat, dairy and kiwifruit - goes via ship, and airfreight to the Asia Pacific rim is flowing well.
"Export NZ in the Hawke's Bay region reports that much of its seafood which is air freighted is bound for Japan, USA and Australia, and air freighted flowers are mainly bound for Japan," she said.
There have also been concerns over the possible non-delivery of original shipping documents to customers in the UK/Europe for sea freight shipments, and the issue of businesses relying on imports by airfreight from Europe, Beard said.
Meanwhile up to 10 tonnes of export-quality New Zealand lamb is stranded in transit at airports across the world, and South Island farmers' cooperative Alliance Group has stopped production of its lamb bound for Europe by air-freight.
Marketing manager, Terry O'Connell said lamb shipments had been caught in Singapore, Los Angeles and Christchurch and the company would try to sell the product where it was, or return it to New Zealand.
The cooperative's production of lamb for air-freighting will not start again until next week at the earliest.
Boost for Kiwi salmon and flowers
But New Zealand King Salmon Company in Nelson has reported a sales boost as it fills orders which European companies have been prevented from sending.
General manager of sales and marketing, Don Everitt, said his company's exports may increase as much as 50% in volume during the next few weeks.
NZ King Salmon CEO Grant Rosewarne says his company is pulling out all stops to fill orders that have seen demand for Kiwi salmon soar in the last 24 hours alone.
"We've put on an additional barge and so we're bringing in an additional 10,000 fish. We'd normally only bring in half that number and we've got an additional crew to process them," says Rosewarne.
NZ King Salmon's CEO says because of the new orders, the company is looking at the profit on an additional $400,000 worth of sales, which Rosewarne says is fantastic for the company
And Eastern and Global Flower Exporters managing director Greg Keymer told Radio New Zealand his business had enjoyed a similar windfall.
"In the last 24 hours we've had a flurry of activity from the east coast of North America in particular looking for New Zealand orchids because they simply can't get any from Holland," he said.
Holland is the centre of the world trade in flowers - its annual exports of cut flowers and potted plants are worth about $10.4 billion - and it houses the world's main auction centre for both sectors.
Air New Zealand flights to Europe remain off until at least tomorrow morning.
Airline group general manager Ed Sims said its aircraft remained grounded due to fears the ash could paralyse plane engines.
Flight cancellations continue
Flights worldwide have been halted since Thursday when smoke from the erupting Eyjafjallajokull volcano spread across vast European air space.
About 600 Air NZ passengers who boarded flights last Thursday bound for London have been put up in accommodation in Los Angeles and Hong Kong paid for by the airline, Sims said.
People who boarded after that day did so against the airline's advice and have had to pay for accommodation and food at their own expense.
Air NZ spokesman Mark Street said travellers hoping to leave New Zealand for Europe could have at least two weeks' delay added to waiting time while ash from the volcano continued to cause strife.
More than 2000 passengers had been unable to leave the country due to the ash cloud.
Street some passengers had been rebooked on flights due to leave later this week on spare seats and the company was looking to see if extra flights could be booked.
"But there's a huge number of variables out of our control at the moment, including Heathrow's ability to take extra flights and which air routes may or may not be open at any given time."
Those details would not be known until the air space was reopened, Mr Street said.
Travellers still waiting to get their plans underway were advised to keep in touch with their airlines.
"But at this point in time if you've plans for the UK or Europe, don't start travelling until you've made contact with your airlines."
For passengers who were stranded at stopover points, such as Los Angeles, Air NZ was offering to fly them home on their return flight ticket at no extra cost.
The company would then refund the ticket price for the leg from the stopover point to where the passenger would have flown to in Europe, Street said.
