Log exports rose by 12 per cent and dairy by 24 per cent contributing to an unexpected trade surplus last month. Photo / Mark Mitchell
An unexpected trade surplus last month shrank the annual deficit to its smallest since last September, but economists expect the drought to widen it again.
Exports exceeded imports by $414 million or 12 per cent in February, defying market forecasts of a small deficit.
At $3.9 billion, exports were 8
per cent higher than in February last year, underpinned by a 24 per cent rise in dairy exports and a 12 per cent rise in logs. The exchange rate appreciated 4 per cent over the year.
Imports at $3.5 billion were up a more modest 2.5 per cent from a year ago, with consumer goods, cars and oil all higher but imports of capital plant and machinery 5 per cent lower.
The annual deficit was $1.1 billion, the smallest since $900 million in the year to September 2012, as exports fell 4 per cent from the year before while imports were flat.
