June 6, 2018
NZ dairy prices fall in 1st quarter
New Zealand's dairy prices declined during the first quarter, helping push total export prices down more than import prices, thus resulting in a fall in the terms of trade for the first quarter, Stats NZ said. A fall in the terms of trade means New Zealand can buy fewer imports for the same amount of exports.
Stats NZ business prices manager Geoffrey Wong said increases in the last quarter of 2017 across dairy product export prices were almost reversed in the first quarter in 2018.
"Although dairy product prices fell in the March 2018 quarter, they have generally been rising over the last few years", Wong said.
Overall, dairy product export prices fell 6.7% in the first quarter, with milk powder exports (down 8.1%) leading the fall, according to Stats NZ. All other dairy products also saw price falls, between 5% and 10%.
Dairy product volumes fell 0.6%, while price changes drove a 9.8% fall in values. This is the largest quarterly fall in dairy product values since the 2014 third quarter, Stats NZ said.
New Zealand is one of the world's top milk producer. Its income from dairy farming is a major part of the country's economy, becoming an NZ$11 billion (US$7.75 billion) industry by 2010.
