New Zealand exports grow strongly in March

New Zealand’s exports rose in the month of March. It grew NZD 446 million or 11 percent year-on-year to NZD 4.6 billion, showed data from Statistics New Zealand. The country’s dairy and lamb exports to China mainly boosted the overall value of exports in the month. New Zealand’s shipment to China valued at NZD 1.1 billion in March. Dairy exports to China grew NZD 114 million, while lamb exports rose NZD 57 million.

China remains New Zealand’s top destination for goods exports and contributes a quarter to the total dairy exports value, noted Statistics New Zealand’s international statistics manager Tehseen Islam.

Export volumes in March were higher than in the same month last year, the first time in several months. Meanwhile, the country’s imports rose 7.6 percent or NZD 303 million to NZD 4.3 billion. The rise in imports was driven by imports of cars that rose NZD 129 million of 35 percent.

New Zealand’s trade balance came in a surplus of NZD 332 million, as compared with a deficit of NZD 50 million in the previous month. Meanwhile, the year-on-year trade deficit for March came in at NZD 3.7 billion, a slightly narrowing from the annual deficit of NZD 3.8 billion recorded in February.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, imports grew more than exports in the first quarter of 2017. Imports grew 4.4 percent quarter-on-quarter to NZD 13.6 billion, whereas exports rose 2.4 percent to NZD 12.2 billion. For the first quarter of 2017, New Zealand recorded a trade deficit of NZD 1.4 billion. This is the 12th straight quarterly trade deficit and the largest since the NZD 1.4 billion deficit in the third quarter of 2008.