Dairy dip beats meat hike in new trade stats

The TPP agreement seeks a trade agreement spanning the Pacific Rim and currently involves 12 countries: New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, Chile, Peru, and Mexico.

Rising meat prices helped to partially offset the impact that a sharp decline in dairy prices had on New Zealand's terms of trade, which fell by 4.4 per cent in the September quarter, Statistics NZ (SNZ) said.

The terms of trade data, which measures value of a country's exports relative to that of its imports, showed New Zealand's export prices fell by more than its import prices over the quarter.

SNZ said the price of exported goods fell by 4.5 per cent in the quarter, led by dairy and forestry products. Excluding dairy, the fall in export prices was about 0.9 per cent.

The decline in the terms of trade followed six consecutive quarters of gains and the fall in dairy export prices followed big rises in the middle of last year.

Dairy prices fell 11 per cent, while seasonally adjusted dairy volumes rose 1.5 per cent.

This was the second consecutive fall in dairy prices, down 15 per cent from a recent peak in the March 2014 quarter. Seasonally adjusted dairy values fell 8.9 per cent after an 8.6 per cent fall in the June 2014 quarter.

Forestry prices fell 3.9 per cent influenced by lower prices for pine logs. Seasonally adjusted forestry volumes fell 5.2 per cent. This is the second consecutive fall in both prices and volumes for forestry products.

Meat prices rose 4.3 per cent influenced by higher prices for beef, which rose by 9.3 per cent to reach their highest level since the March 2002 quarter.

Import prices were flat overall. The key movement was a 5.4 per cent fall in electrical machinery and apparatus prices, led by goods such as cell phones, TVs, and cameras.

Offsetting this fall was a 2.7 per cent rise in petroleum and petroleum product prices, led by higher prices for crude oil, SNZ said.

See more of the latest trade stats here: