Category: Business

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Record export lamb prices nudge terms of trade to new high – Statistics New Zealand

Source: Statistics New Zealand

Record export lamb and butter prices helped boost New Zealand’s terms of trade by 0.8 percent in the December 2017 quarter, to another new high, Stats NZ said today.

Export meat prices rose 7.5 percent in the December 2017 quarter, mainly reflecting high lamb prices (up 12 percent).

Total export prices rose 4.9 percent, with dairy and forestry prices also contributing to the rise.

“Dairy prices have been generally high in 2017, with butter rising 11 percent in the December 2017 quarter to reach a new peak,” business prices manager Sarah Williams said. “Export prices for butter have nearly doubled since September 2016, up 93 percent.”

Total import prices rose 4.0 percent in the December 2017 quarter, with crude oil leading the rise.

The terms of trade is a measure of the purchasing power of New Zealand’s exports abroad and an indicator of the state of the overall economy.

Prior to 2017, the last high for the terms of trade was the June 1973 quarter, influenced by commodity price rises for dairy, meat, and wool in the early 1970s.

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Record high occupancy for hotels in 2017 – Statistics New Zealand

Source: Statistics New Zealand

New Zealand hotels are the busiest they have ever been, with a record high occupancy rate of almost 70 percent in the year ended December 2017, Stats NZ said today.

Overall, the occupancy rate of New Zealand’s short-term commercial accommodation rose to a record 44.9 percent in the year ended December 2017, an increase of 1.3 percentage points from 2016.

“Occupancy rates are a measure of how full accommodation is on average across the year, and how difficult it may be to find a room,” accommodation and construction statistics manager Melissa McKenzie said. “Occupancy rates typically rise when more rooms are booked, but they can also move up if rooms are out of action, for example during renovations.”

Hotels in the main cities generally have higher occupancy rates. Of the main cities, Auckland hotels had the highest occupancy rate in 2017, though down slightly from 2016 to 82.4 percent. The decrease in Auckland’s hotel occupancy rate was caused by more rooms becoming available.

In Wellington, Christchurch, and Queenstown-Lakes, occupancy rates increased to 80.5 percent, 75.2 percent, and 79.5 respectively, all annual record highs, helped by record visitor arrivals to New Zealand during 2017.

“In 2017, high occupancy rates for hotels in our main cities coincided with more building consents issued for new hotels,” Ms McKenzie said.

See Conferences, culture, and tourism boost consents for more information about 2017 building consents.

While hotels had the highest occupancy rate of the accommodation types, occupancy rates for motels and holiday parks also reached record levels in 2017.

The occupancy rate for motels rose 1.5 percentage points to 60.9 percent. Holiday parks had the lowest occupancy rate, up 1.2 percentage points to 20.0 percent. Holiday parks typically have a lower annual occupancy rate than the other accommodation types, mainly due to their seasonal nature and the high volumes of tent sites that pull down the occupancy rate when not in use.

The rate for backpacker accommodation increased slightly, up 0.6 percentage points to 44.7 percent.

The accommodation survey collects data for guests staying in short-term commercial accommodation such as hotels, motels, backpackers, and holiday parks. Hosted and private accommodation, such as bed and breakfasts and holiday homes, are excluded.

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SKY TV INTRODUCES NEW PRICING AND PACKAGING. MORE VALUE FOR CUSTOMERS

Source: SKY Network Television

SKY Network Television today announced new pricing and packaging, including great new value for existing customers.

From 1 March 2018, SKY Basic will be replaced with two new packages – SKY Starter and SKY Entertainment.

SKY Starter is the new minimum package and contains a smaller number of channels, at $24.91 per month. SKY Entertainment costs $25 a month and features UKTV, Discovery, Crime + Investigation and many other popular channels.

“We know that most of our customers enjoy a wide range of our channels, and together SKY Starter and SKY Entertainment offer all the same channels as the current SKY Basic, at no extra cost”, said CEO John Fellet.

“Those customers don’t need to do anything – other than keep enjoying the great content they are getting now.”

Bonus SoHo

“We are excited to be able to expand access to the world’s best dramas for hundreds of thousands of SKY customers.

Customers who subscribe to SKY Starter, SKY Entertainment and either SKY Sport or SKY Movies will now get SoHo as a bonus.

SoHo offers the latest content from some of the world’s best studios, uncut and uninterrupted, including Game of Thrones, Westworld, Billions, Homeland, Fargo and Big Little Lies, as well as highly anticipated series including The Looming Tower, Britannia and Picnic at Hanging Rock.

SKY Sport and more for less than $55 per month

“We want to offer our great SKY content to all Kiwis in ways that work for them. For most families, a SKY package with a broad range of channels is the best way to meet everyone’s needs. For others, a smaller line-up of channels works best.

Today’s changes give those New Zealanders who do not want the full channel line-up a lower entry point for SKY. Sports fans can now get SKY Starter and SKY Sport for less than $55 a month.

Video on Demand

Speaking at the release of SKY’s six monthly results, Mr Fellet noted that an increasing number of customers also access SKY’s great content through its Video On Demand services, and he signalled that new offers would shortly be available.

“The fastest growing parts of our business have been FAN PASS for sports and NEON for entertainment, and we will be enhancing them further this year.

“We are focused on continually understanding and meeting the needs of the full range of Kiwis, and offering better value to our customers.”

In summary

– SKY Starter and SKY Entertainment replace the current SKY Basic package. Together they offer the same channels and are the same cost as SKY Basic. Existing customers don’t need to do anything to continue watching their favourite shows
– SKY Starter is the new minimum package and costs $24.91 per month. It has 40+ channels, including a strong line-up of children’s content, SKY 5, Comedy Central, MTV and VICELAND, along with free-to-air channels
– SKY Entertainment is $25 per month and has 18 great channels, including UKTV, Crime + Investigation, Discovery, Jones, Vibe and international news channels
– Customers who have SKY Starter, SKY Entertainment, and either SKY Movies or SKY Sport will get premium drama channel SoHo for no extra cost. Just our way of saying thanks!
– The new packages are available from 1 March 2018

For reference

The current SKY Basic package is $49.91, with customers then adding options of SKY Sport, SKY Movies and other premium channels
SoHo currently costs $9.99 per month, and will be provided as a bonus to customers who have SKY Starter, SKY Entertainment, and either SKY Sport or SKY Movies

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Largest January goods deficit since 2007 – Statistics New Zealand

Source: Statistics New Zealand

In January 2018, New Zealand recorded its largest deficit for a January month since 2007, Stats NZ said today. This deficit contrasts with last month’s surplus, which was the largest ever for a December month.

The January 2018 trade balance was a deficit of $566 million. This was larger than January 2017 deficit as imports rose more than exports.

“Both imports and exports reached new highs for January months,” international statistics manager Tehseen Islam said. “Import growth remains strong while export growth didn’t carry on at the same rate as the record-setting December 2017 month.”

Imports rose $713 million (17 percent) from January 2017, with increases across a range of commodities including turbo-jets, diesel, and ships.

The $373 million (9.5 percent) rise in exports was led by milk powder, butter, and cheese – up $101 million. The countries with the largest rises in exports in the milk powder, butter, and cheese group were Algeria (milk powder), Peru (milk powder), and Iran (butter). Values were down $21 million to China, due to lower exports of milk powder. This fall is the first for the milk powder, butter, and cheese group to China since November 2016.