COVID-19: Dairy gains support export rise
Statistics released today offer some insight into how COVID-19 is affecting New Zealand’s primary exports.
The volume of total manufacturing sales rose 2.7% in the December 2019 quarter, after a flat September 2019 quarter, when adjusted for seasonal effects.
The growth was led by a 7.9% lift in meat and dairy products manufacturing sales, following falls in the two previous quarters.
“This quarter’s rise is the largest increase in total manufacturing sales volumes in six years,” says business statistics manager Geraldine Duoba.
“It coincided with high exports seen for meat and dairy products late in 2019, before the outbreak of coronavirus in China.”
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Manufacturing sales values rise 2.4%
In current prices, sales values for the December 2019 quarter rose 2.4% ($706 million) compared with the September 2019 quarter. Seasonally adjusted total manufacturing sales were worth $29.5 billion in the December quarter.
Meat and dairy product manufacturing sales values rose 7.4% ($649 million), to $9.5 billion in the December quarter.
With price effects included, the unadjusted value of manufacturing sales was $31.7 billion in the December quarter, up $1.2 billion from the December 2018 quarter.
