Daily goods trade data between 1 February and 31 March gives an updated glance at New Zealand’s trade with the world since the COVID-19 outbreak, Stats NZ said today.
For the week ended 31 March 2020 compared with the equivalent week in 2019:
- total imports from all countries were down 3.9 percent ($52 million), from $1.32 billion to $1.27 billion
- total exports to all countries were up 13.2 percent ($172 million), from $1.31 billion to $1.48 billion
- imports from China were down 27 percent ($64 million), from $236 million to $172 million
- exports to China were up 4.2 percent ($14 million), from $336 million to $350 million.
The high-level graphs released today show total export and import values, and export and import values to and from China.
The data is provisional and should be regarded as an early, indicative estimate of intentions to trade only, subject to revision.
The data compares trade from 1 February to 31 March 2020 against previous years. This allows for an estimate to be made of what may have happened to trade, if they had followed typical patterns.
Stats NZ urges caution in making decisions based on this provisional data.
See Effects of COVID-19 on trade: 1 February-31 March 2020 (provisional).
Note: Stats NZ is not able to publish a weekly trade update next Wednesday (15 April), due to the Easter holiday falling this weekend. The next release will be on 22 April with data from 1 February to 15 April.
