KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's trade figures were "rescued" in November by high world prices for dairy products and output from the Tui oil field.
Combined, the milk powder, butter and cheese, and petroleum and products commodity groups made up a third of all exports and accounted for more than 90 per cent of the increase compared with November 2006.
Figures out yesterday from Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) put total exports for the month at $3.3 billion, a rise compared with November 2006 of 18.4 per cent.
The value of milk powder, butter and cheese exports rose $296 million in November from a year earlier to reach a monthly record of $915 million.
Petroleum and products exports were worth $185 million, from just $3 million in November 2006.
The total export figure was a new high for a November month, but so too was the value of imports, up 9.4 per cent on a year earlier at $3.95 billion.
As a result, the monthly trade deficit for November was $646 million, the smallest since July 2005 and down from $820 million in November 2006 and $1.2 billion in November 2005.
The November figure was above economists' expectations, with the median forecast from a Reuters poll having been for a deficit of $437 million.
The November year trade deficit was $5.65 billion, down from $6.05 billion in the November 2006 year and the $6.68 billion in the November 2005 year, but worse than the economists' expected $5.42 billion.
The increase in imports in November, from a year earlier, was led by an $85m rise in the vehicles, parts and accessories group, to the second highest level ever, SNZ said.
The next largest increases for imports in November were a $57 million rise in aircraft and parts and a $56 million rise in mechanical machinery and equipment.
ANZ bank said the trade deficit continued to be rescued by the impact of high dairy prices and solid production from Tui, which helped reduce the annual trade deficit to its lowest level in more than two years.
"If not for higher dairy prices and Tui, the trade deficit would be significantly larger than it currentlyis."
The trade deficit was expected to improve in coming months as the lagged impact of high dairy prices continued to feed through into trade figures and import growth continued to moderate, ANZ said.
But a recent surge in global oil prices to around US$100 per barrel would result in a rise in the nation's import bill and may slow the recovery.
The annual current account deficit was estimated to have nudged down to 7.8 per cent of gross domestic product in the fourth quarter, from 8.3 per cent in the previous quarter.
- NZPA
