Dairy drives PPI rise

The producers' price index outputs and inputs rose in the March quarter, influenced by higher prices for dairy products, electricity and wholesale goods, Statistics New Zealand said yesterday.

The outputs index was up 1.8 per cent and the input was up 1.3 per cent. Outputs included a 29.9 per cent increase for dairy product manufacturing.

Driving the inputs was a 16.2 per cent rise for electricity generation and supply.

Statistics NZ said output prices fell 0.5 per cent overall in the year to March, while input prices rose 0.6 per cent.