December 11, 2012

New Zealand sees rising manufacturing sales during the September quarter of 2012 due to strong numbers in the dairy and meat sectors.

Total manufacturing sales rose by US$370 million, with dairy and meat jumping 9.3%.

Statistics New Zealand industry and labour manager, Blair Cardno, says strong dairy exports kept overall sales for the year up.

However, sales volumes excluding the meat and dairy industries fell 1.4 percent, with metal manufacturing sales falling 6.9 percent.

Mr Cardno says the dairy and meat industries have kept manufacturing sales buoyant in rough economic seas.

"The trend for sales volume, excluding the meat and dairy industry, has remained relatively flat for the last three years," he says.

ASB says the flat result was "stronger" than their expectations. The bank expects a slowdown in milk and meat production will alter its GDP forecast for next week.