Trade deficit wider in November

By NZPA

Wednesday 15th January 2003

New Zealand recorded a trade deficit of $434 million in November, according to revised figures released by Statistics New Zealand today.

The result is wider than the provisional deficit of $418 million posted in late December, due to lower than expected exports for the month.

The revised deficit represented 17.6 percent of merchandise exports for the month, compared with the average 15.1 percent in the previous 10 November months.

Export receipts were revised lower to $2.47 billion, from the previously reported $2.48 billion. Imports for the month were unchanged at $2.9 billion.

Dairy products, ship parts, and beef were the main contributors to the lower export value in November 2002, compared with the $2.67 billion of exports recorded for the same month a year earlier, the government agency said.

Monthly trends show that New Zealand exports have generally fallen since March 2002, while imports are slowly rising.

In the year to November, New Zealand's merchandise trade deficit was revised to $987 million from $953 million, compared with the previous November year's $920 million surplus.

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