April trade deficit shrinks

April's trade deficit was only half as big as expected, provisional data released by Statistics New Zealand shows.

The estimated trade balance for April was a deficit of $147 million, from $194m the previous month.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the deficit to be twice as large, at around $300m.

The average April trade balance for the previous 10 years was a surplus of $55m. In April last year the deficit was $195m.

The provisional value of merchandise imports for April was $2.952 billion, up $66m, or 2.3 per cent, from April last year.

The main driver behind the higher import values were vaccines and pharmaceutical products, which jumped $25m, or 37.7 per cent, to $90m for the month.

Other contributors to the rise in imports were iron, steel and articles, up 21.3 per cent to $104m; and other mechanical machinery and equipment, up 4.3 per cent to $389m.

Offsetting these gains, imports of electrical machinery and equipment fell 7.2 per cent to $250m, while imports of aircraft and parts fell 50.4 per cent to $16m.

The estimated value of merchandise exports for April was $2.805m, up $114m, or 4.2 per cent, compared with the same time last year.

For the year ended April merchandise imports rose 8.5 per cent on the year-earlier to $35.519b.

Estimated exports for the period were worth $31.205b, leading to an estimated trade deficit of $4.314b for the year, or 13.8 per cent of exports.

- NZPA