New Zealand's foreign trade has come under increasing pressure in recent month as the threat to the global economy from Europe's heavily indebted nations and America's inability to reign in the Federal budget keeps investors nervous and consumers unwilling to ramp up spending.
Philip Borkin, economist at Goldman Sachs New Zealand, said today's data shows things are doing reasonably well due to the growing exposure to growing Asian markets and the dominance of primary products in the nation's exports.
Developed "economists are still important and are important for our trading partners," Borkin said. "The direct impact (of a global slowdown) may be smaller, but the indirect impact is still there."
The value of exports rose 5.3 per cent to $3.88 billion in October from a year ago, beating economists' expected $3.78 billion.
Meat and edible offal sales led the gains, climbing 22 per cent to $296 million compared to October 2010.
Crude oil exports gained 37 per cent to $280 million, while foreign wool sales surged 43 per cent to $90 million.
Milk powder, butter and cheese volumes fell 6.8 per cent to 175,000 tonnes in October compared to the same month a year ago.
Annual exports rose 11 percent to $46.99 billion, led by a 16 per cent increase in foreign sales of milk powder, butter and cheese to $11.39 billion.
Along with $736 million of casein and caseinates sales, dairy products account for about 26 per cent of the nation's exports.
The value of imports rose 6.6 per cent to $4.16 billion from a year ago, with an 11 per cent increase in petroleum goods to $623 million in October, and a 12 per cent lift in purchases of foreign mechanical machinery and equipment to $518 million.
The value of annual imports rose 12 per cent to $46.36 billion, with petroleum products making up about 16 per cent of all imports.
