New Zealand posted its fourth straight trade surplus last month and the biggest for 16 years in percentage terms as imports slumped during an extended recession, official figures showed yesterday.
The trade surplus for May was NZ$858 million (US$554 million), or 21.7 percent of the value of exports, the highest percentage surplus since June 1993, Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) said.
The trade deficit for the year to May was NZ$3 billion, or 7 percent of exports, SNZ said.
The value of imports last month fell 20.7 percent from a year earlier — the biggest fall since February 1993 — to US$3.1 billion. Petroleum and petroleum products and cars led the fall.
New Zealand has been in recession since the beginning of last year, with the economy shrinking 1 percent in each of the December and March quarters due to the global economic crisis.
Exports rose 5.8 percent to US$4.0 billion last month, with exports to China accounting for 80 percent of the increase.
Dairy exports rose 19.4 percent from a year earlier, when a drought restricted production.
ASB bank economist Jane Turner said the run of surpluses is unlikely to be sustainable.
“Import volumes have fallen sharply over the past few months, but are likely to stabilize in the second half of this year, along with the bottoming out in domestic activity,” she said. “Meanwhile, agricultural exports are traditionally seasonally weak over the second part of the year and the underlying weakness in other exports is likely to become more apparent.”
Deutsche Bank chief economist Darren Gibbs said the export sector was relatively resilient compared with other countries.
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