Overseas merchandise trade: May 2018

Overseas merchandise trade statistics provide information on imports and exports of merchandise goods between New Zealand and other countries.

Key facts

This release refers to trade in goods only.

May 2018 month

May 2018 monthly values are actual and compared with May 2017, unless otherwise stated.

• Goods exports rose $509 million (10 percent) to $5.4 billion, a new high for total exports in a May month, and the second-highest for any month. The highest was $5.5 billion in December 2017.
• Goods imports rose $277 million (5.7 percent) to $5.1 billion, a new high for total imports in a May month. The previous high was $4.8 billion in May 2017.
• The monthly trade balance was a surplus of $294 million (5.4 percent of exports), higher than the average monthly surplus in the last five May months ($215 million).

Meat and edible offal lead exports rise

• Meat and edible offal led the export rise, up $119 million (17 percent) to $812 million, the second highest for any month. The previous high was in March 2015.
  • Lamb led the rise, up $89 million (32 percent) in value and 22 percent in quantity.
  • Beef also rose, up $16 million (4.5 percent) in value and 5.3 percent in quantity.
• Logs, wood, and wood articles rose $99 million (26 percent) to $477 million.
  • Untreated logs rose $76 million (32 percent) to $314 million.
• Petroleum and products (other than crude oil) rose $84 million to $104 million.
• Preparations of milk, cereals, flour, and starch rose $60 million (52 percent) to $175 million. This group includes infant formula.
• Fruit rose $55 million (10 percent) to $599 million.
  • Kiwifruit was up $40 million to $414 million.
• Milk powder, butter, and cheese rose $36 million (3.2 percent) to $1.2 billion.
• Casein and caseinates fell $33 million (37 percent).

China leads rise in exports

The movements in May 2018 for our top export partners (ranked by total annual goods exports) were:

• China – up $257 million (27 percent) to $1.2 billion. Meat and edible offal (up $87 million) and logs (up $59 million) led the rise.
• Australia – up $86 million (12 percent) to $781 million, led by rises in petroleum and products other than crude oil (up $42 million) and preparations of milk, cereals, flour, and starch (up $38 million).
• USA – down slightly by 0.6 percent to $578 million. Falls across a range of commodities, including casein and caseinates (down $21 million). The fall was partly offset by rises over a range of commodities.
• EU – up $95 million (17 percent) to $664 million, led by lamb (up $30 million), and kiwifruit (up $30 million).
• Japan – up slightly by 0.5 percent to $378 million. The rise was led by aluminium (up $10 million), offset by a fall in gold kiwifruit (down $16 million).

Vehicles, parts, and accessories lead imports rise

• Vehicles, parts, and accessories rose $185 million (25 percent) to $924 million.
  • Motor vehicles led the rise (up $78 million).
  • Trucks and vans also rose (up $55 million).
• Mechanical machinery and equipment rose $100 million (16 percent) to $737 million.
  • Computers led the rise (up $24 million).
• Electrical machinery and equipment were up $44 million (11 percent), led by telephones and cell phones (up $10 million).
• Petroleum and products fell $196 million (30 percent) to $455 million, led by crude oil, down $256 million to $68 million.
  • Crude oil from Russia was down $56 million; UAE was down $51 million; and Malaysia was down $49 million.
  • Crude oil is at its lowest value and quantities since May 2005.
  • Petroleum other than crude oil rose $59 million to $387 million.

Refining NZ reported that maintenance shutdown at the Marsden Point refinery went into full swing from 7 May. This work is scheduled to be completed in mid-June.

In May 2018, the movements for our top import partners (ranked by total annual goods imports) were:

• China – up $99 million (11 percent) to $995 million. Mechanical machinery and equipment (up $38 million) and electrical machinery and equipment (up $25 million) led the rise.
• EU – up $135 million (16 percent) to $999 million, led by rises in vehicles, parts and accessories (up $53 million), and mechanical machinery and equipment (up $20 million).
• Australia – down $23 million (3.8 percent) to $585 million. Falls across several commodities led by printed books (down $10 million).
• USA – up $82 million (18 percent) to $535 million, led by mechanical machinery and equipment (up $29 million).
• Japan – up $66 million (19 percent) to $415 million, led by jet fuel (up $26 million), diesel (up $24 million), and motor vehicles (up $16 million).

Revisions

We have updated provisional values published on 24 May 2018. Goods trade statistics for the latest three months are provisional so we can include late data and amendments.

More data

Use Infoshare to access time-series data for imports and exports:

Subject category: Imports and exports

Overseas merchandise trade datasets has CSV data for goods imports and exports.

International trade: September 2020 quarter has information on trade in goods and services.

Definitions and metadata

Overseas merchandise trade – DataInfo+ provides the definitions of terms used in this release and general methodology used to produce overseas merchandise trade statistics.

Media enquiries

Media team
021 285 9191
media@stats.govt.nz

Technical enquiries

Keith Hewitt
04 931 4600
info@stats.govt.nz

ISSN 1178-0320

Next release

Overseas merchandise trade: June 2018 will be released on 25 July 2018.