NZ posts trade surplus in March as exports top $4 billion for only the second time

Thursday 29th April 2010

New Zealand’s trade surplus widened in March, as the shipments of dairy products helped push the value of exports to more than $4 billion for only the second time on record.

The surplus was $567 million, up from a revised $335 million in February, according to Statistics New Zealand data, beating expectations of a $380 million surplus. Exports were $4.1 billion, up 0.1% from the same month a year ago, while imports fell 3.5% to $3.5 billion.

Milk powder, butter and cheese marked the largest increase in exports, jumping 19% to $969 million from the same month a year earlier as dairy prices continue to underpin gains in New Zealand’s commodity prices. Dairy made up about 23% of New Zealand’s $39.55 billion worth of annual exports. Crude oil exports gained 122% to $217 million from March 2009, as shipments more than doubled.

“After falling for 11 months the trend for merchandise exports appears to have reached a low point in October 2009 and has increased 7.5% since then,” the report said. “The level of the trend is 6.7% lower than its peak in November 2008.”

Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard today indicated in his review of the official cash rate that export commodity prices were close to their 2008 peak, and a swift economic recovery in New Zealand’s trading partners underpinned the nation’s own revival in growth.

New Zealand’s export markets showed a rebalancing to China and away from the US, with exports to China rising 11% to $441 million in March while the value of exports to the world’s largest economy fell 18% to $378 million. China has now leapfrogged the US as New Zealand’s second-biggest export destination behind Australia.

China, the world’s third-largest economy, accounted for $3.8 billion, or 9.6% of annual exports. Exports to Australia rose 3% in March to $946 million, while imports from across the Tasman rose 8.8% to $654 million.

New Zealand reported a trade surplus of $233 million for the three months ended March 31, as exports rose 10% to $10.4 billion from the previous quarter, its first such gain in a year. Milk powder, butter and cheese underpinned the quarterly performance, up 12% to $2.68 billion.

The annual trade deficit narrowed to $194 million from a revised $324 million deficit in February.

Businesswire.co.nz

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