Meat and dairy enjoy strong quarter

Manufacturing perked up in the December quarter with a 0.3 per cent seasonally adjusted expansion, but excluding meat and dairy processing, it fell 0.3 per cent, Statistics New Zealand said today.

The rise follows falls of 0.3 per cent in the September quarter and 0.2 per cent in the June quarter.

Over the whole of 2005, manufacturing expanded a seasonally adjusted 1.6 per cent over 2004.

The meat and dairy product manufacturing industry contributed the highest dollar value change in seasonally adjusted sales for the December quarter (up 6.0 per cent), followed by other food manufacturing (up 2.0 per cent).

These increases were offset by the decreases in machinery and equipment manufacturing (down 6.0 per cent), and basic metal manufacturing (down 15.1 per cent).

With the effect of price changes removed, seasonally adjusted manufacturing sales increased 0.4 per cent for the December quarter, following a decrease of 1.8 per cent for the September quarter and an increase of 0.1 per cent for the June quarter.

The meat and dairy product manufacturing industry contributed significantly to this increase, rising 9.7 per cent.

- NZPA