- Daria Kwon, International Trade Statistics
The annual trade deficit in New Zealand hit a record of $3.8B in the year ended February 2017, appearing to be the largest since April 2009, Stats NZ reported on Thursday. Goods exports plunged 5.5% compared with the same month of the previous year. The greatest fall of $269M was recorded among ships, boats and floating structures due to the export of drilling platform. Excluding drilling platform, goods exports gained 0.9% mostly because of the solid sales of milk powder, butter and cheese, which soared 5.6%, or $55M. Meat and edible offal gained 4.4%, while exports of fruits and crude oil surged $28M and $6M accordingly. The import of consumption goods slipped 8.7%. However, it was offset by a 7.0% and a 5.7% increase in intermediate and capital goods imports. As a result, total goods imports nudged 4.0%. The increase was mainly driven by the spike in crude oil imports. Excluding oil, imports of intermediate goods rose only 0.8%, while total imports advanced 1.4%.
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