Fatter returns for meat and dairy in September

Meat and dairy manufacturers received more for their products as prices rose in the September 2019 quarter, Stats NZ said today.

The volume of meat and dairy product manufacturing fell 4.5 percent in the September quarter, when adjusted for seasonal effects. Volumes remove the effect of price changes for the quarter. While volumes fell, sales values for meat and dairy rose 2.0 percent.

Overseas trade indexes (prices and volumes): September 2019 quarter (provisional) saw dairy export volumes fall 12 percent in the quarter, while dairy product prices were up 8.9 percent.

Overall, the total volume of manufacturing sales for the September 2019 quarter across all industries was down 0.3 percent from June 2019 quarter.

“The fall in meat and dairy manufacturing volumes were largely offset by the rises seen in other manufacturing industries,” business statistics manager Geraldine Duoba said.

The volume of total manufacturing excluding meat and dairy rose 0.8 percent, following a 0.7 percent rise in the June 2019 quarter. Increases in sales volumes were seen in almost half of manufacturing industries. The largest of these was in transport equipment and machinery manufacturing, which rose 4.8 percent.

Manufacturing sales values rise 0.9 percent

In current prices, sales values for the September 2019 quarter rose 0.9 percent ($269 million) compared with the June 2019 quarter.

With price effects included, the unadjusted value of manufacturing sales was $27 billion in the September 2019 quarter, up $262 million from the September 2018 quarter.

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