Manufacturing sales rise by over $3 billion in December 2021 quarter

The manufacturing and construction industries saw the largest quarterly rises in sales values in the December 2021 quarter, Stats NZ said today.

Most industries in the business financial data release had sales increases over the December 2021 quarter. Sales were largely impacted by the easing of COVID-19 lockdown measures over the December quarter.

Manufacturing

After adjusting for seasonal effects, the manufacturing industry had the largest rise in sales values of any industry, up $3.5 billion (12 percent) from the September 2021 quarter. This marks an all-time high of $33 billion for the industry since the data collection began in June 1992.

Within the manufacturing industry, 11 of the 13 sub-industries saw increases in seasonally adjusted sales from the September 2021 quarter. See Business financial data: December 2021 quarter to find out more about the manufacturing sub-industries.

“The easing of COVID-19 restrictions in the December 2021 quarter resulted in less disruption for the manufacturing industry as a whole, which resulted in increased sales compared with the September 2021 quarter,” business financial statistics manager Evie Rolinson-Purchase said.

Metal product manufacturing led the manufacturing sub-industries with the highest percentage increase when accounting for seasonality, up $888 million (32 percent) compared with the September 2021 quarter. Overseas merchandise trade statistics showed iron and steel export values were up by 39 percent compared with the September 2021 quarter.

Non-metallic mineral product manufacturing had the second-largest percentage movement within the manufacturing industry. Seasonally adjusted sales increased by $264 million (30 percent) for the December 2021 quarter.

“The price of residential and commercial building construction materials has increased, contributing to the rise in sales in metal and non-metallic mineral product manufacturing (which flow into construction),” Ms Rolinson-Purchase said.

The third-biggest percentage movement came from petroleum and coal product manufacturing, which saw seasonally adjusted sales rise by $466 million (25 percent) compared with the September 2021 quarter. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s weekly petrol monitoring statistics showed an increase of regular petrol prices at the pump of an average 18 cents per litre during the December 2021 quarter compared with the September 2021 quarter.

Construction

The construction industry had the largest industry percentage increase, up $3.0 billion (16 percent) from the September 2021 quarter.

The $3.0 billion rise in construction sales occurred as the COVID-19 lockdown measures in Auckland eased in the December 2021 quarter.

“It’s the second-largest quarterly rise recorded for the construction industry, following the significant rebound in the September 2020 quarter after the first nationwide lockdown in April 2020,” Ms Rolinson-Purchase said.

“Recently construction has been in increased demand with an emphasis on building new homes, seen especially in the sales rises from residential construction businesses over the quarter. All sectors of the construction industry grew compared with the subdued September 2021 quarter, including non-residential and civil construction,” Ms Rolinson-Purchase said.

The seasonally adjusted value of building work put in place in Auckland rose 21 percent in the December 2021 quarter. The Auckland region typically accounts for more than one-third of building activity in New Zealand. The rest of the New Zealand regions saw less significant growth over the same period.

Value of building work put in place: December 2021 quarter has more detailed building activity information.

Wholesale trade

Wholesale trade sales rose to $34 billion, up $2.0 billion (6.4 percent) from the September 2021 quarter.

“We saw a similar rise in sales compared with the September 2020 rise, when lockdown measures eased. Again, in the December 2021 quarter, we saw less disruption to the wholesale trade industry as a whole, which helped explain such a rebound in sales.” Ms Rolinson-Purchase said.

Basic material wholesaling had the largest wholesaling sub-industry sales increase, rising by $1.1 billion (15 percent) to $8.4 billion in the December 2021 quarter.

“We saw sales rise in basic material wholesaling, which includes metal, mineral, petroleum, agricultural, and wool products wholesaling. This rise in sales aligned with the seasonal high alongside high commodity demand and increased prices across the board,” Ms Rolinson-Purchase said.

The second largest wholesaling sub-industry to increase was other goods wholesaling, up $477 million (9.9 percent) from the September 2021 quarter when adjusted for seasonal effects. Pharmaceutical and toiletry goods were a large contributor to the other goods wholesaling’s sales rise, along with toys and sporting goods, clothing and footwear, and furniture and floor coverings.