NZ manufacturing sales volumes fall 0.2% in second quarter

NZ manufacturing sales volumes fall 0.2% in second quarter on petroleum, coal, meat, dairy

By Jonathan Underhill

Sept. 8 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealand manufacturing sales volumes fell in the second quarter, driven by the continued decline in petroleum and coal, and in meat and dairy.

Total seasonally adjusted sales volumes declined 0.2 percent in the three months ended June 30, following a 0.3 percent drop in the first quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand. The volume of dairy and meat, the nation's two largest exports, fell 0.6 percent and excluding those two industries, volumes rose 0.6 percent.

The volume of sales for the petroleum and coal product industry, which don't tend to follow a stable seasonal pattern, fell 5.2 percent, following two quarters of gains.

Manufacturing is the last significant piece of data that feeds into gross domestic product in the second quarter, which is scheduled for release on Sept. 17. The Reserve Bank had projected quarterly GDP growth of 0.8 percent in its June monetary policy statement. Before today's figures, bank economists had been expecting a weaker number, of between 0.3 percent and 0.7 percent. The central bank revises its forecasts with its latest MPS on Thursday.

Both the volume and value of dairy and meat manufacturing sales declined in the second quarter. In current prices, the total value of manufacturing sales rose 0.4 percent, as a 1.6 percent decline in dairy and meat product manufacturing was offset by a 3 percent gain for transport equipment, machinery and equipment manufacturing. Excluding dairy and meat, the sales value rose 0.9 percent.

Beverage and tobacco product manufacturing sales fell 4 percent by value.

The volume of finished goods stocks, which aren't seasonally adjusted, rose 2.2 percent from the second quarter last year, led by a 15 percent increase in stocks of chemicals, polymers, and rubber product manufacturing.

(BusinessDesk)

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