Price increases lift manufacturing sales

Price increases helped lift seasonally adjusted manufacturing sales 1.0 per cent, or $185 million, in the March quarter, Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) said today.

With the price changes removed from the figures the increase was just 0.1 per cent.

"This reflects an increase in the values received for sales, rather than the volumes produced," SNZ said.

Many survey respondents had identified the impact of the lower New Zealand dollar during the quarter, compared with the US dollar, as a contributing factor in sales increases for some industries.

Excluding meat and dairy product manufacturing, seasonally adjusted manufacturing sales had risen 1.8 per cent, or $234 million, following 0.2 per cent fall for the December 2005 quarter.

In the March quarter 10 of the 15 manufacturing industries covered recorded increases in seasonally adjusted sales.

Other food manufacturing, such as oil, flour, cereal, bread, sugar and seafood processing, contributed the highest dollar-value change in seasonally adjusted sales with a rise of 6.4 per cent, or $113 million.

That was followed by meat and dairy product manufacturing which rose 2.0 per cent, or $89 million, and rubber, plastic and other chemical product manufacturing up 6.6 per cent, or $76 million, SNZ said.

The increases were partly offset by decreases in machinery and equipment manufacturing which fell 5.8 per cent, or $99 million, and structural, sheet and fabricated metal product manufacturing down 5.3 per cent, or $67 million.

Following growth of 7.7 per cent between the March 2003 and September 2004 quarters, the sales trend had eased to 2.1 per cent growth.

- NZPA