Agricultural exports
This uses the standard WTO5 definition for agriculture. Products
include HS codes 1-24 inclusive, with the exception of HS 03
and some of HS 16 (processed fish). It also includes casein,
hides and skins, and raw wool.
CIF
Cost, insurance, freight – the market value (or FOB equivalent)
of the imported goods plus the cost of freight and insurance
from the source to destination.
Confidential classifications
Traders may ask, for commercial reasons, Statistics New
Zealand to suppress details of their imports or exports. A value
for all ‘confidential’ trade now appears under catch-all HS 98.
Through to April 2002, ‘confidential’ was included in HS 9707,
but was subsequently placed in HS 98. Examples of exports
currently classified as confidential include methanol, coal, wood
pulp, clay, sphagnum moss, mushrooms and some iron and
steel products. A full list of the goods classified under this
heading is available on the Statistics New Zealand website
(www.stats.govt.nz). The value of ‘confidential’ trade is
considerable – exports of $995 million (including re-exports of
$12 million) and imports of $120 million for the June 2004 year.
FOB
Free on board – the value of the goods delivered to the port of
export and loaded onto a vessel for transportation out of the
country of origin. Used for exported goods.
Government services nie
These comprise transactions of central government, the central
bank and local government. Both New Zealand government
and foreign government transactions are recorded.
Insurance
Insurance and re-insurance of all types, including freight
insurance. The values recorded alongside insurance measure
the value of insurance services provided by an economy to
non-residents (the MFAT ‘exports’ series or, in BOP terms, the
credit item) and the value of insurance services purchased by
residents from non-residents’ insurers (the MFAT ‘imports’
series, or BOP debits item). Insurance services is measured
by multiplying the total amount of insurance premiums exported
or imported by the five-year average domestic service charge
ratio. The latter is the ratio of the domestic insurance service
charge to total domestic premiums when the service charge is
calculated as premiums minus claims.
Merchandise goods
Exports or imports of goods that alter the nations stock of
material resources.
Non-agricultural exports
This uses the standard WTO definition. Non-agricultural exports
are comprised of all other exports not included in agricultural
exports.
Non-merchandise goods
Goods returned after repair or modification in New Zealand;
goods on short-term loan or lease; and service transactions,
eg aircraft for repair.
Other
This item covers those international service transactions not
covered under the travel, transportation, insurance or
government services nie items. They include communication
services, construction services, financial services, computer
and information services, royalties and licence fees, personal,
cultural and recreational services, and other business services.
Other business services includes merchanting, and other
business, technical and professional services.
Provisional data
Readers may also note that the June and December editions
of this publication differ, reflecting the availability of data
sourced from Statistics New Zealand. Care must be taken to
clarify whether import data is CIF or VFD, and whether export
data includes re-exports or not. Re-exports are not included in
this publication unless specifically stated. The most recent data
is provisional and subject to revisions. Note also that Statistics
New Zealand releases import data some three weeks before
the provisional export data is released, but an estimate of the
provisional export data is given at the time of the import data
release. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade waits until
‘final provisional’ export data is released rather than using the
earlier estimate, as there may be several changes at a more
detailed level.
Re-exports
This data records goods brought into New Zealand and
exported without a ‘substantial transformation’. Although not a
hard and fast rule, 50 percent value added is used as a
yardstick to measure ‘substantial transformation’; above that
level, the goods are classified as domestic exports. Transshipment
goods are not included. Goods that are re-exported
will have previously figured in some form in the import statistics.
Re-exports are not included in the general tables of this
publication, and therefore underestimate the total trade in some
cases.
Services
Items that are generally intangible, or not physically moveable
– services.
Transportation
Transportation measures the value of transactions in
transportation services between residents of different
economies. Transportation services are those services
provided through carriers (such as ships and aircraft) by their
operators, and the goods and services consumed by carriers
in the course of their operations. By international convention,
exports are foreigners carried by a New Zealand carrier, either
here or overseas. Imports are New Zealanders carried by a
foreign carrier. New Zealanders carried by a domestic carrier
(either here or overseas) constitute a domestic transaction and
are not part of international trade.
The types of services provided through carriers include the
carriage of freight (exports and imports) and passengers. Other
transportation services covered include the charter of carriers,
and airport and harbour fees. Goods consumed by carriers in
the course of their operations, including bunkering and
provisioning, are recorded under merchandise goods.
Travel
Travel covers the goods and services acquired from an
economy by individuals defined as travellers during their stay
in that economy. The international carriage of travellers is not
included here but is classified as transportation.
VFD
Value for duty – the market value of imported goods as used
for Customs’ valuation purposes for tariff assessment in New
Zealand.
Additional notes
The merchandise trade statistics are incompatible with the
services data. Services data is collected and collated by
Statistics New Zealand in line with the principles set by the IMF
for balance of payments (BoP) data. These principles also have
methodology for the collation and presentation of goods data
that differs from that of the merchandise goods data used above.
The key point is that one should not add the merchandise trade
figures to services in order to obtain an overview of ‘goods and
services trade’. Instead, readers are referred to the full BoP
series, which adjust merchandise goods values according to
the principles set down by the IMF. In particular, the value of
imported goods is adjusted to a FOB-equivalent basis in BoP
statistics, but not in merchandise trade series. Further
information on BoP concepts and methods is available from
Statistics New Zealand.
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