Seasonally adjusted manufacturing sales volumes were up just 0.2 per cent during the March quarter, Statistics New Zealand said yesterday.
The small rise compared with an increase of 3.4 per cent in the previous quarter.
If meat and dairy product manufacturing were excluded from the latest figures, volumesdecreased 1.4 per cent. The meat and dairy product manufacturing industry seasonally adjusted sales volumes rose 5 per cent, or $181 million, during the quarter.
Offsetting that were falls in wood product manufacturing, which was down 4.7 per cent or $48 million, furniture and other manufacturing down 11 per cent or $46 million, and transport equipment manufacturing which fell 6.3 per cent or $36 million. In comparison, seasonally adjusted manufacturing sales increased 3.7 per cent or $743 million.
The increase was the third-largest since the series began and reflected the contribution of increased prices, SNZ said.
Sales were dominated by the meat and dairy product manufacturing industry, which rose 13 per cent or $755 million, following the record 26.2 per cent rise in the December quarter.
If that industry was excluded, seasonally adjusted manufacturing sales recorded a slight decrease, down 0.1 per cent.
The manufacturing sales trend had been stronger in the past year, up 12.8 per cent since the March 2007 quarter, an average increase of 3.1 per cent a quarter, SNZ said.
That followed a small decrease of 1.1 per cent between the September 2006 and March 2007 quarters.
Actual finished goods manufacturing stocks were up 13.5 per cent, or $1.05 billion, in the March quarter, compared with a year earlier.
In the December quarter the increase was 13 per cent. With the effects of price changes removed, the value of finished goods stocks as at March 31 was $6.04 billion.
This was a decrease of 2 per cent from a year earlier.
Meat and dairy product manufacturing provided the largest contribution to the stock volumes decrease, with a fall of 8.9 per cent.
