Manufacturing sales up in December quarter

Total manufacturing activity (measured by seasonally adjusted sales volumes) rose 3.1 percent in the December 2009 quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today. "This follows a fall of 1.7 percent in the September 2009 quarter, when a nine-year low was reached," said business statistics manager Louise Holmes-Oliver.

Eleven of the fifteen industries, including the influential meat and dairy product manufacturing industry, showed rises for the December 2009 quarter. The industries with the largest volume movements were:

• meat and dairy, up 4.6 percent
• other food, up 5.8 percent
• basic metals, down 18.5 percent
• structural, sheet, and fabricated metal products, up 7.9 percent.

The value of sales (also adjusted for seasonal effects) rose by 0.7 percent ($139 million) in the December 2009 quarter. This rise follows four consecutive quarterly falls. The main contributors to the rise were the other food; and structural, sheet, and fabricated metal product manufacturing industries. The largest decreases were for the basic metal; and meat and dairy product manufacturing industries. The rise in the value of sales for the December 2009 quarter is smaller than that for the volume because of price decreases.

Latest figures indicate that the trend for the sales volume has risen for the latest two quarters after seven quarters of decline, while the trend for the sales value is down for the fifth consecutive quarter.

Geoff Bascand 8 March 2010

Government Statistician