Overseas Merchandise Trade (Imports): June 2000

Overseas Merchandise Trade (Imports): June 2000

Slower Growth in Imports

The rate of growth in the imports trend is continuing to slow down according to Statistics New Zealand. The imports trend has been growing at a lower rate than the exports trend for seven months.

Seasonally adjusted imports were 9.1 per cent higher in the June 2000 quarter than in the March 2000 quarter but 9.0 per cent lower than in the December 1999 quarter. Imports in the December 1999 quarter were particularly high due to the frigate HMNZS Te Mana, large aircraft and Y2K effects.

Seasonally adjusted imports of intermediate goods increased by 7.6 per cent in the June 2000 quarter following a decrease of 3.8 per cent in the previous quarter. These are goods imported for further processing in New Zealand. Seasonally adjusted imports of consumption goods decreased by 1.0 per cent in the June 2000 quarter and increased by 1.9 per cent in the previous quarter.

For the month of June 2000 the provisional unadjusted value of merchandise imports was $2,462 million. Imports for the year ended June 2000 were $29,206 million, an increase of 20.4 per cent from the previous June year. The main contributor to this annual growth was mineral fuels, followed by aircraft and motor vehicles. Rising crude oil prices caused most of the increased import value for mineral fuels.

The preliminary estimate for June 2000 merchandise exports is $2,410 million, which would give a merchandise trade deficit of $52 million compared with a deficit of $191 million for June 1999. For the month of June, the average trade balance for the last 10 years for the month, including June 2000, was a surplus of $151 million. Detailed statistics for June 2000 merchandise exports will be released on 9 August 2000.

Ian Ewing DEPUTY GOVERNMENT STATISTICIAN END

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