|
Merchandise exports for the year ended December 2006 were $32.7 billion. This is up from $29.5 billion in the year to December 2005, an increase of 11 percent. In comparison, imports increased by 9.4 percent in the year to December 2006 to $40.8 billion. The largest increases in exports were for milk powder, butter and cheese (up $1.1 billion or 20.4 percent), aluminium articles (up $398 million or 36.8 percent) and, wood and wood articles (up 222.4 billion or 11.7 percent). The largest decrease in exports was a drop of $100 million in vehicles, parts and accessories.
Exports
- Australia continues to be New Zealand’s principal export market, worth $6.4 billion. Exports to Australia rose by 7.9 percent in the year to December 2006. The United States and Japan are New Zealand’s second and third largest export markets, receiving $4.4 billion and $3.5 billion, respectively. Large increases in exports to China (20 percent) and the Republic of Korea (21.2 percent), New Zealand’s fourth and sixth largest export markets, were observed in the year ended December 2006.
- Exports to APEC economies accounted for 69 percent of New Zealand’s total exports and were worth $24 billion in the year ending December 2006. New Zealand’s key export destinations within APEC were Australia, the United States, Japan, China and the Republic of Korea. The European Union accounted for 15.4 percent of total exports in the year to December 2006, worth $5.2 billion. The most important markets within this region were the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium.
- Dairy products were New Zealand’s largest export earner in the year to December 2006, making up 18.1 percent of total exports. Meat and wood were our next largest export products, accounting for 13.5 and 6.2 percent of total exports, respectively. Machinery (5.5 percent), aluminium (4.3 percent), fruit (3.5 percent), and fish (3.5 percent) were also key components of New Zealand’s export portfolio in the year ending December 2006.
Imports
- Australia remained New Zealand’s largest source of merchandise imports in the year ended December 2006 ($8.2 billion), accounting for 20.1 percent of total imports. China accounted for 12.2 percent ($4.9 billion) of our total imports. China has now surpassed the United States as New Zealand’s second largest source of imports. Other major sources of imports in 2006 were the United States (12.1 percent), Japan (9.1 percent), and Singapore (4.6 percent).
- Imports from APEC economies were valued at $30.6 billion (75 percent) in the year ended December 2006. New Zealand’s key sources of imports from within APEC were Australia, China, the United States, Japan and Singapore. Imports from the European Union were $6.7 billion (16.4 percent) in the year to December 2006. Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy were the most important sources of imports for New Zealand from within this region.
- Fuels and oils were New Zealand’s most valuable imported product in the year to December 2006, worth $6.1 billion. They were followed closely by imports of machinery ($5.2 billion), motor vehicles ($4.8 billion) and electrical machinery ($3.6 billion).
Services
- In the year to September 2006, New Zealand’s service exports were worth $11.9 billion, down $10 million from the September 2005 year. New Zealand imported
services to the value of $12 billion, up $353 million from the year ended September 2005.
- Overseas visitor arrivals numbered 2.42 million in the year to December 2006. This was 38,000 (1.6 percent) more than for the year ended December 2005. The most
important source of visitor arrivals in the year to December 2006 was Australia, followed by the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan and the Republic of
Korea.
General issues
The commodity tables show the principal markets for New Zealand’s exports (and some imports) of several product groups, including agriculture, non-agriculture, dairy,
meat, fruit and vegetables, forestry, machinery and textiles, clothing and footwear. In addition, the five groupings of APEC, OECD, EU (now expanded to 25 members),
ASEAN (AFTA) and the Pacific have been added to the commodity tables to give more information.
The country aggregations that make up the regions used in the text are defined at the end of this edition. These have been determined on the basis of the Ministry’s
requirements and may not correspond with regional definitions appearing in other trade statistics publications. Other definitions, eg services definitions, are those used
by Statistics New Zealand, based on standard IMF criteria. A summary of these also appears at the end of this edition.
Re-exports records goods brought into New Zealand and exported without a ‘substantial transformation’. The 50 percent value-added is used as a yardstick to
measure ‘substantial transformation’; above that level, the goods are classified as domestic exports. Trans-shipment goods are not included. Goods that are re-exported
will have previously figured in some form in the import statistics. Earlier editions of this publication have not included re-export data and have therefore understated exports
and overstated the trade deficit.
Some data published in this book is provisional for the most recent period. It has been compiled for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade by Statistics NZ from its INFOS
database, and the reader is referred to its website at www.stats.govt.nz for more and sometimes updated data. All data use New Zealand dollars unless otherwise stated.
Back to External Trade Statistics
|