Trade surplus narrows more than expected
New Zealand's trade surplus narrowed more than expected in April as exports fell more than imports, driven by a drop in shipments of dairy products and meat.
The trade surplus was $534 million in April, from a revised $935m in March, and $171m a year earlier, according to Statistics New Zealand.
The annual trade balance turned to surplus of $1.19 billion, or about 2.3 per cent of exports, from a deficit of $687m a year earlier.
Economists polled by Reuters predicted a monthly surplus of $667m and an annual surplus of $1.3 billion.
Exports fell 11 per cent to $4.5m in April, for an annual increase of 9.5 to $50.6b. Imports declined four per cent to $3.96m in the month, with an annual increase of 5.3 per cent to $49.4b.
Milk powder, butter and cheese exports rose 36 per cent to $1.22b in April from the same month last year, for an annual increase of 33 per cent to $15.2b.
Meat and edible offal rose 5.2 per cent in the month to $585m for an annual gain of 3.5 per cent to $5.5b.
The trend for the dairy exports showed a seasonally adjusted 1.8 per cent fall this month and is now 5.4 per cent lower than December's peak, while meat and edible offal exports fell 5.9 per cent, Statistics NZ said.
"Exports have begun their normal seasonal decline," Michael Gordon, a Westpac Banking Corp' senior economist, wrote in a note.
"The fall this month was driven by quantities rather than prices, with dairy products down five per cent and meat down eight per cent by volume.
"While dairy prices in the GlobalDairyTrade auction system have fallen sharply since March, these prices related to delivery at future dates, so the impact should start to show up in the trade figures in the next few months."
