NZ trade surplus revised down for May

By NZPA

Tuesday 9th July 2002

New Zealand's May merchandise exports have been pegged back by 0.8 percent compared with early figures released last month.

Statistics New Zealand's updated value of merchandise exports for the month of May was $3.07 billion, while for the year ended May merchandise exports were revised up 2.7 percent to $32.49 billion.

The revision, a regular practice for Statistics NZ, means the merchandise trade balance for the year ended May is a surplus of $304 million, compared with the provisional $327 million surplus. New Zealand had a trade deficit for the previous year of $76 million.

The monthly trade surplus was $470 million, lower then the initial $496 surplus released last month.

Compared with May 2001, the main decreases in commodity values were for milk powder, casein, and caseinates, which are at prices last seen two years ago.

The main increases in commodity values were for kiwifruit and sawn timber.

Surpluses have been recorded for nine of the last 10 May months, Statistics NZ said.

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