Record Month for Imports

Record Month for Imports

The provisional value of merchandise imports for November 2004 is $3,299 million, the highest monthly value ever recorded, according to Statistics New Zealand. The previous highest month occurred in November 2000, when a ferry was imported. The monthly imports trend has been relatively flat since May 2004, following a 9.5 percent rise in the trend from April 2003.

The value of imports for November 2004 is 18.6 percent higher than for November 2003. A broad range of commodities contributed to this higher value. However, mechanical machinery and equipment, passenger motor cars, diesel, and crude oil were the largest contributors to the higher value of imports over this period.

Imports of new passenger motor cars with engine size exceeding 3000cc recorded a high for both quantity and value for November 2004. A large proportion of cars of this size were imported from Australia during this month.

The estimated value of merchandise exports for November 2004 is $2,620 million, resulting in an estimated trade deficit of $679 million or 25.9 percent of exports. The average November trade balance for the previous 10 years is a deficit of $380 million or 17.8 percent of exports. Over this period, the trade deficit has ranged from 4.5 percent to 35.5 percent of exports. Only two of these deficits have exceeded 25.9 percent of exports.

Brian Pink

Government Statistician

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