New Zealand’s total manufacturing sales volumes rise 1.4 pct in Q1, boosted by meat and dairy volumes

New Zealand’s total manufacturing sales volumes rose 1.4 percent during the first quarter of this year, boosted by meat and dairy volumes, which were up 2.2 percent q/q, despite a fall in livestock slaughtering in the quarter. 'Core' sales posted a more moderate increase of 0.6 percent q/q. Total stocks of finished goods were up 8.3 percent q/q. 

Meat and dairy sales volumes were up 2.2 percent q/q, despite a fall in livestock slaughtering in the quarter. Export volumes fell in Q1 but sales volumes increased – with the volume of inventories up 3.7 percent y/y. In nominal terms, meat and dairy sales were down 4.7 percent q/q, with prices down for dairy (-7 percent) and meat and meat product (-1.6 percent) manufacturing.

Stripping out meat and dairy product manufacturing (which often throw the figures around), 'core' sales volumes rose 0.6 percent q/q with stocks of finished goods up 2.1 percent q/q. It is core manufacturing that is most relevant for forming views on quarterly GDP growth.

"Today’s core manufacturing result was perhaps a little softer than our expectations, but implications for our views on Q1 GDP growth are minimal," ANZ Research commented in its latest report.

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