New Zealand posted a merchandise trade surplus of NZ$631 million in March, Statistics New Zealand said on Wednesday – representing 13.0 percent of exports.
The headline figure topped forecasts for a surplus of NZ$300 million following the upwardly revised NZ$83 million surplus in February (originally NZ$50 million).
Exports were down 2.0 percent on year to NZ$4.93 billion – topping expectations for NZ$4.40 billion following the downwardly revised NZ$3.89 billion in the previous month (originally NZ$3.92 billion).
Exports to China fell NZ$324 million (29 percent), due to whole milk powder, while exports to Australia fell NZ$26 million.
For the past five months, exports to China and Australia have both fallen on year, the bureau noted. Falls in exports to China were larger than the falls to Australia.
“This is the first time Australia has been our top export destination since the year ended November 2013,” international statistics manager Jason Attewell said.
Imports climbed an annual 4.1 percent to NZ$4.30 billion versus forecasts for NZ$4.05 billion and up from the downwardly revised NZ$3.81 billion a month earlier (originally NZ$3.87 billion).
Consumption goods (including clothing) led the rise (up 19 percent).
Year to date, New Zealand has a trade deficit of NZ$2.407 billion versus forecasts for NZ$2.700 billion after coming in at NZ$2.181 billion in February.
For the first quarter of 2015, New Zealand had a seasonally adjusted trade deficit of NZ$490 million – representing 4.0 percent of exports.
Exports were down 0.6 percent on quarter to NZ$12 billion, while imports tumbled 3.3 percent to NZ$13 billion.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com