Value of Seasonally Adjusted Exports

Overseas Merchandise Trade (Exports):

9 May 2005

Little Movement in the Value of Seasonally Adjusted Exports

The seasonally adjusted exports value was 0.1 percent higher in the March 2005 quarter than in the December 2004 quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today. The quarterly trend series for exports has been increasing since September 2003.

The main contributors to this rise in the total seasonally adjusted value of exports were meat and edible offal, and milk powder, butter and cheese. Offsetting these higher export values was a lower export value for fruit. The main contributor to the lower export value for fruit was kiwifruit.

The value of merchandise exports for the March 2005 month was $2,793 million. The value of merchandise imports for the March 2005 month was $2,987 million, resulting in an updated trade deficit of $194 million, or 7.0 percent of exports. A trade surplus is usual for a March month, and this is only the second trade deficit in the last decade.

Brian Pink

Government Statistician

ENDS

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