NZ July exports $20 million lower at $2.55 billion

By NZPA

Thursday 5th September 2002

New Zealand's trade deficit for July has widened by $20 million to $246 million, Statistics New Zealand said today on the release of its merchandise trade figures.

Merchandise exports for the month totalled $2.55 billion, slightly lower than provisional forecasts.

The trade balance for the year to July was a surplus of $247 million, down $10 million on early figures released last month.

Merchandise imports were $2.80 billion.

"This is the largest deficit for a July month since 1997 when the frigate Te Kaha was imported," Statistics NZ said.

Deficits have occurred in July for the last 11 years.

"Monthly trend figures indicate that exports and imports have declined in recent months, with exports declining at a faster rate than imports."

Contributing to the deficit were lower prices for some of New Zealand's export commodities such as milk powder, casein, butter and cheese. Prices for those commodities were below average prices of two years ago.

However, according to the ANZ Commodity Price Index released on Tuesday, world prices for New Zealand's major exports steadied in August as the year long slide in dairy prices halted.

The export value of fresh kiwifruit rose by $99 million to $420 million for July, compared with July 2001, after increased demand in early 2002.

For the year ended July, the updated value of merchandise exports was $32.12 billion, down 1.0 percent from the July 2001 year.

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