Overseas Merchandise Trade: September 2015
Annual goods imports from China reached a new high of $10 billion, up $1.6 billion (19 percent), for the year ending September 2015, Statistics New Zealand said today. Total goods imports reached $52 billion, the highest-ever for a 12-month period.
Monthly imports from China topped $1 billion for the first time in September, up 22 percent ($193 million) to $1.1 billion, compared with September 2014. Total monthly imports, excluding large import items, were the highest-ever in September 2015, up 8.1 percent ($368 million) to $4.9 billion, compared with September last year.
“The value of imports from China has increased across most commodities for the last 12 months,” international statistics senior manager Jason Attewell said. “Mobile phones and laptops led the increase, up a quarter of a billion dollars.”
Annual two-way trade (imports plus exports) with China has been increasing since June this year and is now at $18 billion. This is despite dairy exports driving a 26 percent decrease in total exports to China for the last 12 months, down $3.0 billion compared with the year ending September 2014.