Annual Trade Surplus Confirmed

Overseas Merchandise Trade (Exports): July 2001

The updated merchandise trade balance for the year ended July 2001 is a surplus of $45 million, according to latest figures released by Statistics New Zealand. This is the first annual surplus since April 1995, and compares with a deficit for the year ended July 2001 of $3,144 million (which included $631 million for the import of the frigate HMNZS Te Mana, as well as several large aircraft).

The updated value of merchandise exports for the year ended July 2001 is $32,336 million, which is an increase of 22.8 per cent from the previous July year. The annual increase from dairy exports (milk powder, butter, cheese, casein and caseinates) accounted for 40 per cent of the total annual increase in merchandise exports.

The value of merchandise exports for the July 2001 month has been updated to $2,754 million, $4 million more than the early estimate released on 27 August 2001. The value of merchandise imports for July 2001 is $2,796 million. The deficit of $42 million is 1.5 per cent of the value of exports for the month. Deficits of more than 1.5 per cent of exports have occurred in 9 of the 10 previous July months. Overseas merchandise trade statistics are provisional for three months to allow for the inclusion of new and amended information.

During the past five months there has been slightly stronger growth in the imports trend than the exports trend. This has caused the trade balance trend to decline.

Brian Pink
Government Statistician
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