Rising meat prices helped to partially offset the impact that a sharp decline in dairy prices had on New Zealand's terms of trade, which fell by 4.4 per cent in the September quarter, Statistics NZ (SNZ) said.
The terms of trade data, which measures value of a country's exports relative to that of its imports, showed New Zealand's export prices fell by more than its import prices over the quarter.
SNZ said the price of exported goods fell by 4.5 per cent in the quarter, led by dairy and forestry products. Excluding dairy, the fall in export prices was about 0.9 per cent.
The decline in the terms of trade followed six consecutive quarters of gains and the fall in dairy export prices followed big rises in the middle of last year.