KEY POINTS:
New Zealand had a monthly trade deficit of $320 million in January, well down on the $825m a year earlier.
The annual trade deficit was down to $4.8 billion from $6b in the year to January 2007, Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) said today.
Despite the marked improvement from a year earlier, the figures were still worse than expected, with the median forecast of economists in a Reuters poll having been for a monthly deficit of $268m and an annual deficit of $4.74b.
Main export improvements behind the lower deficit were a $292m increase in milk powder, butter and cheese exports in January 2008 from a year earlier, and an increase of $225m in exports of petroleum and products.
Exports last month were 24 per cent ahead of those a year earlier at $3.1b, while imports rose 2.8 per cent to $3.4b.
For the year to the end of January imports were up 2.5 per cent to $42b, with exports up 6.4 per cent to $37.2b.
Milk powder, butter and cheese exports totalled $861m last month, with milk powder alone up $182m from a year earlier to $482m, SNZ said.
The five commodities that made up 78.6 per cent of the dairy group total in January all showed large increases in value but decreases in quantity.
Dry conditions last month and in December may have been a factor in the drop in the amount of dairy products sent overseas, SNZ said.
The largest offsetting export decrease in January was in aluminium and aluminium articles, which dropped $40m.
Quantity and prices for unwrought aluminium, which made up 85.7 per cent of the group last month, were down compared to January 2007.
The rise in imports was led by an $84m increase last month compared to January 2007 in mechanical machinery and equipment, with gas turbines the largest contributor, SNZ said.
Next was a $55m rise in imports of vehicles, parts and accessories, with used petrol cars in the 1500cc to 3000cc category the main contributor.
A factor contributing to the small rise in imports last month from a year earlier was the import of a large aircraft in January 2007.
SNZ said the trade balance surplus with Australia of $116m was the largest monthly surplus recorded in the past 20 years, with the average monthly trade balance with Australia in the past decade having been an $82m deficit.
Exports of goods in the petroleum and products group were the main cause of the January surplus with Australia, contributing 31.9 per cent.
The monthly deficit for January was 10.4 per cent, compared to the average in the past decade for January months of 17.3 per cent.
- NZPA
