Excellent March Quarter For Manufacturing
Excellent March Quarter For Manufacturing But The Future’s Clouded
“New Zealand’s manufacturing sector achieved some
excellent results for the March quarter,” said David
Moloney, President of the New Zealand Manufacturers
Federation. Mr Moloney was commenting on the latest
WestpacTrust Analysis of Manufacturing.
“Driven mainly by
commodity based manufacturing, sales growth for the March
year end is the highest since June 1995 with productivity
growth up 6.8% over the March 1999 year. This makes 14
quarters of productivity growth in a row. At the same time
real wages increased for the fourth consecutive quarter.
While investment in new plant and machinery continued to
track lower, it was at a greatly reduced rate.
“What we
do need to watch is the decline in the growth rate for
domestic sales which has been evident over the March quarter
and whether the bounce back in export growth is sufficient
to offset this. A further factor to watch is the weaker
growth in the Australian market. This has consequences both
for New Zealand exporters and those who compete against
Australian goods on the New Zealand domestic market.
“The
latest WestpacTrust business opinion survey which is due out
early next week will give us a better idea of what the
future is likely to hold and whether we can confidently
expect the current buoyant conditions to continue over the
next six months and beyond.”
For further comment contact:
David Moloney 04 388 8355 (bus),
Peter
Crawford 04 473-3000 (bus)
The latest WestpacTrust Analysis can be obtained from ManFed’s web-site
www.manufacturers.org.nz