Trade deficit edges lower as Australian exports, imports shrink
China picked up the slack, with September exports rising 23% to $468 million and imports edging up 1.1% to $718 million.
BUSINESSDESK: New Zealand's trade deficit narrowed in September as imports and exports across the Tasman shrank, led by falling international dairy sales and declining foreign machinery purchases.
The trade deficit of $791 million in September was less than a revised $809 million a month earlier, Statistics New Zealand says. The shortfall was almost identical to the same month a year earlier, and smaller than the $825 million deficit forecast in a Reuters survey of economists.
The annual deficit of $888 million was in line with expectations.
Trade flows with Australia, New Zealand's biggest trading partner, shrank in September, with exports falling 8.3% to $824 million and imports down 13% to $586 million from the same month a year earlier.
Statistics NZ says New Zealand sold less unwrought gold, cheese and crude oil to Australia, and bought less cane sugar, aluminium oxide and fertilisers.
China, the country's second-biggest trading partner, picked up the slack, with monthly exports rising 23% to $468 million and imports edging up 1.1% to $718 million.
Exports to the US, New Zealand's third-biggest partner, picked up, rising 12% to $257 million in September, though imports declined 18% to $336 million.
Milk powder, butter and cheese exports fell 12% to $597 million in the month, and aluminium and aluminium articles sales sank 20% to $79 million. Dairy products account for about 27% of New Zealand's annual $46.77 billion in exports.
Imported mechanical machinery and equipment dropped 11% to $472 million in September, while vehicles, parts and accessories fell 8.4% to $406 million.
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Trade deficit edges lower as Australian exports, imports shrink
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