Car buying blows out trade deficit

A car-buying binge has blown out the trade deficit, Statistics New Zealand said yesterday.

Based mainly on preliminary import figures, the September trade deficit expanded to $334 million from $60 million a year ago.

The deficit, which was an improvement of the $525 million shortfall in August, was bang on economists' forecasts.

For the September quarter, the deficit was $1.13 billion, compared with a surplus of $821 million in the June quarter and a deficit of $190 million in the September quarter last year.

Record values of car imports and increased imports of consumer goods contributed to a 2.7 per cent increase in the seasonally adjusted value of imports in the September quarter.

The department said imports of cars, parts and accessories were now the largest commodity group in value and trend figures showed that the value of car imports had risen 40.7 per cent since the December 2000 quarter.

New Zealanders splashed out $4.7 billion on cars and parts in the September year, up a quarter on the previous year. In the September quarter they spent $1.29 billion, up 29.6 per cent on the September 2001 quarter.

The number of new cars imported in the September quarter was 24.5 per cent higher than in the June quarter and 20 per cent higher than in the September quarter last year.

The introduction of frontal impact standards on April 1 appears to have fuelled demand for new cars. The number of used cars imported has declined since the March quarter and is now at the same level as the September quarter last year.

Imports overall were up 4.5 per cent in September, up 4 per cent in the September quarter and up 0.7 per cent in the September year.

Exports were down 5.9 per cent in value in September, down 7.6 per cent in the September quarter and down 3.5 per cent for the year.

Consumer goods imports were up 1.3 per cent in seasonally adjusted value in the September quarter, while intermediate goods fell 0.7 per cent despite a rise in crude oil prices. The 9.5 per cent rise in capital transport equipment was mostly offset by a 2.2 per cent fall in machinery and plant imports.

Among New Zealand's main markets, imports from China rose 11 per cent in the year, from Japan 9.3 per cent and Germany 6.7 per cent.

Imports from Italy rose 15 per cent to $814 million in the year but imports from the United States fell 6.6 per cent.

- NZPA