NZ’s trade with members of group shrinks

WELLINGTON - New Zealand's trade with Apec countries, far from growing, has shrunk in the past five years.

Much of the hype surrounding this week's Apec meeting in Auckland is based on the concept that the Asia-Pacific region is the world's fastest-growing trading region.

That may be so, but Statistics NZ figures show that New Zealand's exports to the 21 Apec countries in the past five years have actually fallen from 71 per cent of total exports in 1995 to 69 per cent in the year to June 1999.

The total value of exports to Apec countries has risen in unadjusted dollars from $14.8 billion in 1995 to $15.7 billion in the year to June 1999.

Moreover, most by far of our exports to Apec (69 per cent) go to just three countries which have been traditional trading partners - Australia, the United States and Japan.

Exports to South Korea fell from $1 billion in 1995 to $883 million, exports to Hong Kong fell from $595 million to $535 million and exports to Taiwan fell from $632 million to $529 million. But exports to China have risen from $545 million to $619 million.

And New Zealand's main exports to Apec are still dominated by traditional commodities: milk powder, butter and cheese accounted for 14 per cent of exports, wood and wood articles 9 per cent and meat and edible offal 9 per cent.

The import story is similar.

Seventy-two per cent of imports are from Apec countries, unchanged from the proportion in 1995.

Possibly the most damaging figure is that the trade imbalance with Apec countries has grown substantially.

In 1995 the deficit with Apec countries was $552 million and in the June 1999 year it was $1.77 billion. - NZPA