Manufacturing sales volumes rose 3.1 per cent in the December quarter, led by meat and dairy and other food-related industries.
The rise in manufacturing volumes was off a nine-year low in the September quarter, with volume increases recorded in 11 of the 15 industries surveyed, Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) said today.
The rise in the seasonally adjusted value of manufacturing sales was a more modest 0.7 per cent, or $139 million, in the December quarter, following four consecutive quarterly falls.
The smaller rise in values compared to volumes, came as values for basic metal manufacturing sales fell 19.1 per cent or $128m, and values for meat and dairy product manufacturing fell 2.1 per cent or $113m.
In contrast, the volume of meat and dairy product manufacturing rose 4.6 per cent.
Philip Borkin, economist at Goldman Sachs JBWere said the strength shown in today's manufacturing data was "reasonably broad-based".
"Adjusting for changes in inventory levels, we estimate that manufacturing (ex-meat & dairy) production (which is important for GDP calculations) rose around 4 per cent quarter-on-quarter"
"This emphasises a turn in performance after a period of significant weakness," said Borkin.
The strength of the Australian economy and the low level of the New Zealand dollar against the Australian dollar was "likely to assist the manufacturing industry going forward."
Stats NZ said the other food category - which includes such items as seafood, fruit and vegetables, bread, oils and fats, flour, and sugar - recorded a rise in volume of 5.8 per cent and a rise in values of 4.4 per cent or $99m.
The 19.1 per cent fall in the value of basic metal manufacturing sales came as the volume of sales for the category fell 18.5 per cent, reversing a 21.5 per cent rise in the September quarter and taking the category to a historically low level, SNZ said.
Sales for the industry have an unstable seasonal pattern and so are not seasonally adjusted.
For the structural, steel and fabricated metal category, volumes rose 7.9 per cent, while values rose 7.8 per cent or $89m.
When meat and dairy product manufacturing was excluded, the volume of sales in the December quarter rose 3.6 per cent, while the value of sales rose 3.1 per cent or $404m. The rise in value followed five consecutive quarterly falls totalling 11.5 per cent.
Stocks of finished goods, which are not seasonally adjusted, rose 2 per cent in volume for the December quarter compared to a year earlier. Stock values were down 14.2 per cent to $7.9 billion, compared to December 2008.
WITH NZ HERALD STAFF
