-Jason Attewell, international statistics manager
New Zealand logged its first monthly trade deficit of 2015 and the biggest 12-month shortfall in six years. The monthly trade balance turned to a NZ$60 million deficit from a revised surplus of NZ$371 million in May. The data appeared to be worse than economists had expected, as they had projected a NZ$100 million surplus. The reason behind the surprise trade gap was not a weak performance of exports, but rather an increase in imports, which reflected higher consumption patterns. Imports rose 9% to NZ$4.29 billion last month in annual terms, compared with NZ$3.99 billion in the prior month and beating forecasts at NZ$4 billion. The rise was led by consumption goods from China, including clothing, as well as machinery and plant. Meanwhile, exports climbed 1.3% to NZ$4.23 billion on year in June, marking the highest export value for a June month on records, as goods shipped to China increased for the first time since August, while outbound shipments to South Korea soared more than 45%.
New Zealand's annual trade gap expanded form NZ$2.55 billion in May to NZ$2.85 billion last month, the biggest shortfall since July 2009. The second-quarter shortfall was NZ$420 million, a fifth consecutive quarterly decline.
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