Exports and imports continue to increase

The value of seasonally adjusted exports and imports both increased for the December 2008 quarter, up 4.4 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively, compared with the September 2008 quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today. This is the third consecutive quarterly increase for exports and imports.

For seasonally adjusted exports, dairy products contributed almost two-thirds to the increase, while the largest offsetting decrease came from crude oil – down more than 40 percent from the September 2008 quarter.

For seasonally adjusted imports, intermediate and consumption goods both increased. The overall increase in the intermediate goods category was led by industrial supplies, with crude oil the largest offsetting decrease due to lower prices. Passenger motor car imports also showed a decrease for the quarter with significantly fewer vehicles being imported.

Coinciding with the increasing export and import values in the last three quarters, the value of the New Zealand dollar (as measured by the Reserve Bank's Trade Weighted Index) has declined 20 percent over the same period. A decreased dollar value has an upward influence on prices for both exports and imports, which may be related to some of the increases in commodity trade values.

The seasonally adjusted trade balance for the December 2008 quarter was a deficit equivalent to 10.8 percent of exports, smaller than the deficits of 14.1 and 17.8 percent recorded in the September 2008 and June 2008 quarters, respectively.

In the month of December 2008, the unadjusted value of merchandise exports was $3.8 billion, up $167 million (or 4.5 percent) from December 2007. Merchandise imports were valued at $4.2 billion, up $552 million (or 15.2 percent) from December 2007.