KEY POINTS:
New Zealand today posted a $945 million trade deficit in August, slightly worse than the $925m consensus forecast of economists.
Statistics New Zealand said the deficit was slightly better than the $951m shortfall at the same time last year.
The deficit for August year was $6.339 billion, little changed from the July year and slightly better than the $6.53 billion of a year earlier.
Exports for August totalled $2.659b, down from $2.733b a year earlier, while imports fell to $3.604b from $3.684b. It was the fourth consecutive fall in exports against the same month a year ago.
For the year, exports were up to $34.484b from $33.396b while imports rose to $40.823b from $39.925b.
SNZ said the main reason for fall in exports in August were a decrease in dairy and meat exports.
However, a six-fold jump in crude oil exports offset most of the value of these falls.
August 2007 saw the first full month of production from the Tui oil field, contributing to the highest-recorded value of crude oil exports in any month.
All oil exports went to Australia, contributing to an exports total to Australia of almost three-quarters of a billion dollars, which was also a record high for any month.
- NZPA
