Wellington [New Zealand], Dec 2: New Zealand recorded a trade deficit of 6.3 billion NZ dollars (4.3 billion U.S. dollars) in the September 2021 quarter, following a surplus of 548 million NZ dollars (373.8 million U.S. dollars) in the June 2021 quarter, the statistics department Stats NZ said on Thursday.
Trade goods values for exports fell 2.7 billion NZ dollars (1.84 billion U.S. dollars) to a total of 14 billion NZ dollars (9.55 billion U.S. dollars) in the September 2021 quarter, while goods values for imports rose 3.2 billion NZ dollars (2.18 billion U.S. dollars) to a record total of 19 billion NZ dollars (12.97 billion U.S. dollars), Stats NZ said.
In the same period, prices increased for both import and export goods, leading to a 0.7 percent quarterly increase in terms of trade -- the ratio between export prices and import prices, it said.
The rise in values for imported goods was led by increases for mechanical machinery and equipment, electrical machinery and equipment, and petroleum and products, Stats NZ said.
"In many cases, rising import values can be attributed to increased import volumes, as seen for electrical and non-electrical machinery," business prices delivery manager James Mitchell said in a statement.
"Elsewhere, price changes have driven increasing values, as with petroleum and petroleum products, where prices rose while volumes held steady," Mitchell said.
Export values fell for dairy products and meat in the September 2021 quarter. These falls were partly offset by increasing values for wine and fish, crustaceans and molluscs, he said.
In the same period, export prices rose 4.6 percent, led by increasing prices for dairy and meat products, he added.
"Dairy and meat export values tend to fall in the September quarter as the dairy, beef, and lamb seasons end and export volumes fall," international trade manager Alasdair Allen said.
"This year, the September quarter dairy volumes are lower than what might be expected at this time of the year, while meat volumes are higher," Allen said.
Source: Xinhua
