New Zealand Trade balance for December is a deficit of 159m for the month
- expected is 75m, prior was -213m
Exports, 4.42bn
- expected is 4.21bn, prior was 4.02bn
Imports, 4.58bn
- expected is 4.13bn, prior was 4.24bn
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NZD off a few tics …. but its already had a hard hit this morning in the wake of the RBNZ earlier
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From Statistics New Zealand (bolding mine):
- Rise in total exports was led by meat, up 15 percent ($210 million). Meat quantities rose 4.6 percent
- “Meat export values and quantities are hitting new highs on the back of higher beef prices,” international statistics manager Jason Attewell said. “Combined with an increase in other exports, particularly logs, total exports rose despite a fall in dairy products.”
- Seasonally adjusted milk powder, butter, and cheese exports fell 9.5 percent ($328 million) in the December 2014 quarter, with quantities up 2.6 percent. Values have fallen 26 percent since the peak in December 2013. The fall in recent quarters was price driven.
- Seasonally adjusted imports showed little change, down 0.2 percent to $13 billion.
- The seasonally adjusted trade balance for the December 2014 quarter was a deficit of $904 million, equivalent to 7.4 percent of exports.
