Meat and dairy lead manufacturing sales down again

A fall in meat and dairy related sales led to another drop in seasonally adjusted manufacturing sales in the September quarter, according to data out from Statistics New Zealand today.

The fall follows a 0.2 per cent drop in the June quarter and a 2.7 per cent rise in the March quarter.

The drop was driven by a 4.2 per cent, or $178 million, fall in seasonally adjusted sales for the meat and dairy product manufacturing industry.

Excluding the meat and dairy industry, seasonally adjusted manufacturing sales were up 1 per cent on the previous quarter.

Seven of the 15 manufacturing industries reported sales falls in the quarter. The second largest decrease was for petroleum and industrial chemical manufacturing, which fell 5.4 per cent or $44 million.

Partly offsetting these falls were rises for machinery and equipment manufacturing, up 7.7 per cent or $129 million; and other food manufacturing, up 2.8 per cent or $47 million.

With the effect of price changes removed, seasonally adjusted manufacturing sales fell 1.9 per cent for the quarter.

- NZPA